THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 
 lH*f 
 
 
 t\.('j.Ai«Kj.:,p,ri 
 
 ^ 
 
 Ksili£5i*5lAT| 
 

 
 // / 
 
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 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS
 
 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 'or 
 
 FACTS AND FEATURES, SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS 
 OF AUSTRALIA AND AUSTRALIAN LIFEj 
 
 WITH NOTICES OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 BY A CLERGYMAN 
 
 THIRTEEN YEARS RESIDENT IN THE INTERIOR OF NKW SOUTH WALES 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 \ 
 
 Let thine eyes look right on, 
 And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 
 
 Ponder the path of thy feet, 
 And let all thy ways be estabVished — Pnrz'erfis 
 
 LONDON 
 LONGMANS, G R E \i: N, A.N D CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST lo'" STREET 
 1894 
 
 A ii rights rtzcrved
 
 y 

 
 DLL 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The observations in the concluding chapter are to 
 be understood as applying to the interior; popula- 
 tion being the basis of representation, there is little 
 or no parliamentary representation of the thinly 
 populated interior. In those trying their prentice 
 hands at legislation, there is the ever recurring 
 subject, the Crown lands, called also waste lands of 
 the Crown. Why waste? The land is already applied 
 for all the purposes to which it can ever be profitably 
 applied, grazing. One of the many evils attending 
 the administration of the land in withholding from 
 the people the rights to the land is deferred payment. 
 Those in possession of all the rights to the land they 
 occupy will always be found valiant defenders and 
 upholders of the integrity of law and government. 
 ' Truth seen springing out of the earth and righteous- 
 ness looking down from heaven ' — in deferred pay- 
 ment on the purchase of the land, there will be 
 nothing seen springing up but dragon's teeth 
 
 785921
 
 vi AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 troubles and difficulties increasing and multiplying 
 without number and without end. Something of 
 this may be already seen in every new administra- 
 tion. Coming in with a new land law, there would 
 have been none of these distracting measures of 
 Government, if the words of wisdom had been 
 listened to of the late President of the Council, Sir 
 John Hay, appropriating all the high table land for 
 the benefit of those who desired to settle on the 
 land and make homes to themselves. Those occu- 
 pying stations far inland have no thoughts of 
 permanently remaining there ; they are there as 
 are those on board ship, making money and 
 nothing else, and the cuisine in no way differs from 
 that on board ship, in preserved vegetables, for the 
 simple reason they cannot be grown there. With 
 their tens of thousands of acres, they often find it 
 difficult to hold their own during a severe drought ; 
 those with their hundreds of acres would be 
 certain here to be involved in total ruin, and the 
 great safety and protection to life and property far 
 inland is the paucity of the population, everyone 
 being a marked man, no one having business there 
 but in connection with stations.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 
 
 Chinese Expedients for Communicating Information to Chinese 
 Settlers — Reasons for Emigrants Refraining from Letter- 
 writing — Precarious Condition of New Settlers — Cautious 
 Gold-Diggers— Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand — 
 Mistakes of Emigrants in not ascertaining the Districts 
 suitable for them — A Local Governor's Advice — Cotton- 
 growing — Manners and Customs— Peculiarities and Un- 
 certainties of Colonial Legislation ..... 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE BUSH 
 
 Kirst Sight of Australia — Physical Outlines and Configuration 
 — Eastern and Western Falls of the Water — Climate — 
 Queensland — Vegetation in Australia and New Zealand — • 
 Birds— Fish — Wild Animals — Reptiles — Insects — Bees — 
 Fruits, Indigenous and European— English Vegetables — 
 Atmospheric Peculiarities and Phenomena — Diversity of 
 Country and Climate — Occupat ion of t he Land — Geological 
 Wonders— Alligators— New Discoveries .
 
 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 PIONEERING 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Early Settlement — Variety of Country — Cheap Land and 
 Money-making — Aboriginai Guides — Singular Experiences 
 of a Pioneer — Stories about Blacks — Shooting a Tribe — 
 Poisoning a Tribe — Savage Blacks — A Bush Fight — Origin 
 of Squatting — Curious Experiences of New Settlers — How 
 Land may be Acquired Cheaply — Aborigines of Australia 
 ■ — Accounts of New Zealand — Aborigines of New Zealand 
 — Facts Relating to them ...... 48 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 SQUATTING 
 
 Rapid Appropriation of Territory — How Fortunes are Made 
 and Land Acquired — A Hundred Miles of Land Acquired 
 by One Pioneer — Queensland Squatting — Squattage Right 
 
 — Runs and Blocks — Laws affecting Grazing — Value of 
 Stations — Gold Discovery — Unstocked Runs — Destructive 
 Effects of the Scottish Thistle— Sheep Scab — Stamping 
 Out Disease — Farm Servants — House Accommodation — 
 Cattle and Sheep Stations — Schoolmasters and Physicians 
 
 — Founding of Townships — Camp Followers — Squattage 
 Homes^Land and Land Legislation— Absenteeism and 
 Resident Squatters— Details of Squatting 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 GOLD-DIGGING 
 
 Distribution of Gold — Prospecting — A Rush — Life at the 
 Diggings— Modes of Searching — Different Kinds of Gold 
 —A Persistent Digger— Quartz Rocks — Diamonds and 
 Precious Stones— An English Gold-Mining Company Ex- 
 ploding Unnecessarily— Gold Escort — Lucky Diggers— Old
 
 CONTENTS ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Convict Diggers— Wandering and Unsettled Life at the 
 Diggings — American Notions — American Traders — A 
 Cargo of Coffins — Chinese Diggers and Chinese Swindlers 
 — Introduction and Permanence of Gold-digging — Un- 
 satisfactory Mode of Life of Diggers . . . .139 
 
 CHAPTER \T 
 
 SHEPHERDING 
 
 The Shepherd's Mode of Life — Easy Way of Earning a Liveli- 
 hood — Hutkeepers and Families — Resources for those 
 Unaccustomed to Manual Labour — Wages — Rations — A 
 Commercial Traveller and an Expatriated Irish Landlord 
 ^Shepherding a Stepping-stone to a Better Position — A 
 Lucky Irishman — Newly-arrived Emigrants — Scottish 
 Highlanders in Trouble — Encamping out . . .169 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 LOST IN THE BUSH 
 
 Bush Directions to Travellers — Bush of Australia and Bush 
 of New Zealand — Died of Starvation — Riding in a Circle 
 — Lost Travellers — A Traveller Gone Mad — Bush Pre- 
 scription for Preventing Loss of Travellers — Short Cuts 
 and Hair-breadth Escapes— Marked Tree Line — Death of 
 a Traveller — Lost Children — -Blacks Tracking a Lost Child 
 — A Mother and her Lost Child — Aboriginal Guides . iSo 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 DROUGHTS AND FLOODS 
 
 Coast and Dividing Ranges — A Drought and its Terrible 
 Effects — Singular Origin of a Fire — Hot Winds — Agri- 
 culture in the Interior — Travelling on the Road — Sandy 
 and Swelling Blight — Bullock Drivers — Carriers — Stock-
 
 X AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 pai;e 
 holders — - Burning Grass Experience — Dams — Over- 
 stocking — Losses during the Disastrous Drought of 1865-6 
 — Vegetables — Fall of Rain — Seasons of Droughts and 
 Floods, and consequent Losses — Agriculture . . .193 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 CONVICTISM 
 
 Caution in the Use of the Word Convict — An Incorrigible — 
 Murder of a Settler — Singular Story of a Scottish Convict 
 ■ — Regretting not being Executed — A Bonnymuir Rebel 
 and a Scottish Clergyman — Specials — Old Crawlers— An 
 Edinburgh Burglar Mutilated by Natives — Tasmania — 
 Convicts and Emigrants — A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing— 
 A Ninevite — Pointers or Professional Swindlers — Wealthy 
 Bushrangers and the New South Wales Government . 207 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ADVENTURES 
 
 Auchlerarder and Strathbogie — Old Convict— Lost in the 
 Bush — Cattle and Sheep Stations — A Bush Scene — Survival 
 of the Fittest — Squatter's Baptism — Fatal Consequence — 
 Wise Shepherd — Floods — Fatalities — Clergyman Drowned 
 Squatter Drowned in Sight of his Family — New Zealand — 
 Bishop Selwyn — Homily to Maori Crew — Young Gentle- 
 man — Pioneering — Killed by the Blacks — Stooping to 
 Conquer — Colonial Experience — Wealthy Settlers — 
 Droughts — Hair-breadth Escapes ..... 224 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 MATRIMONY 
 
 Young Gentleman — Hobson's Choice — Chinamen — Hodge 
 and his Wife — Troubles of Shepherds — Mary Jane, Fanny, 
 and Elizabeth — Trcubles of a Parson — Bridecake for the 
 Funeral — Convict Chaplain — Convict Damsels ,
 
 CONTENTS xi 
 
 CHAITKR XII 
 
 riKMOCRACY AM) ITS RESULTS 
 
 Antipodean Go-aheadism — The Clergy and Crooked Legisla- 
 tion—A Gaol 7>e'rsus a WooUen Factory— Deprivation of a 
 Town's Rights and Privileges — Losses of the f'eople — 
 Members of Parliament — Hrains, but no Money -Mr. 
 ^ViIliam Sykes and Bank Failures — President of the 
 Council and Chief Justice on the Land Law— Farly Colo- 
 nisation — Squattager Cities of Refuge — Emporiums of 
 Wealth for the Poor — Radicalism ^ Scattering of the 
 People — Sufferings of the i'eople. ..... 246
 
 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PRKI.nTINARV OBSERVATIONS 
 
 Chinese Expedients for dmnnunicating Inf(jrmatii>n to Cliinese 
 Settlers — Reasons for Emigrants Refraining from Letter-writing 
 -Precarious Condition of New Settlers — Cautious Gold-diggers 
 — Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand — Mistakes of Emi- 
 grants in not ascertaining the Districts Suitable for them — 
 A Local Governor's Advice — Cotton-growing — Manners and 
 Customs — Peculiarities and Uncertainties of Colonial Legis- 
 lation, 
 
 On one occasion I cntci'cd a slicphcrd's luit, which 
 forincd one of tlic numci'ous out-stations of a large 
 grazing estabhslinient, and found a Chinaman, who 
 acted as hut-kccpcr, busil)- engaged in reading a 
 Clu'ncse volume. Hax'ing signified a desire to be 
 informed as to the nature of the contents of it, and 
 of a number of other Chinese books which la)' 
 beside him, he replied in luiglish,' All this country 
 this Chinaman write — other Chinamen write — all 
 write China,' pointing at the same time in every 
 tlirection around him, and finally in the direction 
 of China. In traversing bush tracks, and the main 
 Cx B
 
 2 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 lines of roads, one not unfrequently sees trees 
 which have been neatly stripped of their bark a 
 few feet above the ground, with Chinese characters 
 carefully written in ink on the white surface — one 
 oi^ the many expedients resorted to by Chinamen 
 with the object of communicating information to 
 their countrymen, and saving them from loss and 
 disappointment. A volume of letters of recent 
 dates from some of those observant foreigners who, 
 engaged in different pursuits, have settled in 
 different parts, would probably be one of the best 
 handbooks of Australia which could be published. 
 Not the least of the writer's objects in the following 
 chapters is to give a trustworthy view of life and 
 manners, for the guidance of those who may be 
 interested in the subject. What is true of one 
 l)lacc may not be true of another place, and what 
 is true at one time may not be true at another 
 time ; and the fitful changes — periods of pros- 
 perity alternating with periods of depression, which 
 have unfortunately been df frequent occurrence 
 in the Australian colonies— are very unfavourable 
 to letter-writing ; hence much of the uncertainty 
 which exists- in the public mind as to the real con- 
 dition of society in those regions. A carpenter 
 told me that on his arrival at a large seaport town, 
 which happened at the time to be in a most 
 flourishing condition, he obtained employment at 
 the rate of twenty-five shillings a day, or half a 
 crown an hour. The climate was agreeable, beef 
 was sold at one penny per lb., and Australia seemed 
 to him to be a very land of Goshen. He wrote to
 
 PRELIM I \ARY OHSERVATIOXS 3 
 
 inform his comrades at home of his good fortune, 
 with the object of inducing them to follow his foot- 
 steps ; but he deeply rcgrettctl afterwards that he 
 had done so, for his letter had not reached the 
 equator when he was thrown out of employment, 
 and instead of receiving half a crown an hour, he 
 could not get employment at any rate of wages. 
 He made a shift — as many are obliged to do when 
 hands of their own craft are too numerous — and 
 became a gardener. A treacherous dependence 
 may be sometimes placed on first impressions ; and 
 the shame of having to contradict themselves, to 
 say that they were altogether wrong in what they 
 had prex'iously written, leads many emigrants to 
 forego correspondence. The affections are very 
 apt to go along with the interests ; new ties of 
 friendship are formed, old tics are broken ; and 
 there are those who forget, those, too, alwa}'s very 
 numerous, who wait ' to-morrow and to-morrow,' to 
 write more favourable intelligence. To-morrow, 
 with its fa\ourablc intelligence, does not come, antl 
 they do not write. One }oung man, who had 
 emigrated very much against the will of his parents, 
 said to me that he hatl not written to them for 
 .seven }-ears. In his case it would have been rather 
 disagreeable to have written to state how he was 
 situated, as he had resigned a good situation in 
 Glasgow, and was not receiving one-sixth part of 
 the salar)' which he had been in receipt of at home. 
 He wrote at last, but, like many others, not until 
 he felt himself justified in doing so — that is, when 
 his pecuniary circumstances were more favourable. 
 
 u 2
 
 4 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 The spirit of commercial enterprise is so much 
 abroad ; tlie arts of money-making are so numerous 
 and the power of self-interest is so strong, that 
 failing the aids supplied in trustworthy correspon- 
 dence, no alternative would seem to be left to 
 newly-arrived emigrants but to grope their way. 
 When a new gold-field — regarding which flattering 
 accounts may have been circulated in the news- 
 papers — has been discovered, the more experienced 
 and better-informed diggers employ and pay a 
 part}' of reliable persons to visit it and furnish a 
 report, a fact of some significance, proving the 
 necessit}' for caution on the part of intending 
 settlers. 
 
 Every one who has been resident in any of the 
 Australian colonies very soon becomes familiar, 
 however, with the leading local characteristic 
 features ; some things standing out very pro- 
 minently, and distinguishing one quarter from 
 another. The first colony in the line of the over- 
 land mail from England, and calling at King 
 George's Sound, is — 
 
 Western Australia — Capital, PcrtJi.— W. 
 has a large unexplored interior, and newh' dis- 
 covered gold-fields. 
 
 South Australia — Capital, Adelaide. — 
 Mouth of the river Murray, draining the interior 
 of Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, 
 navigable for 2,000 miles, dividing with Queens- 
 land the present right to and interest in the pro- 
 jected new colony of Northern Australia. Pro- 
 ducts : wheat, copper, and wool.
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 5 
 
 Victoria — Capilal, Melbourne. ' Go-a-head ' 
 population. Products : wool and gold. 
 
 New South Wales— Capital, Sydney. — Fine 
 harbour. Parent of all the other colonies. Pro- 
 ducts : wool, gold, coal, siKcr, lead. 
 
 Queensland — Capital, Brisbane. — The latest 
 formed colony. Warm climate. Products : wool, 
 gold. Squatting in the ascendant, with a vast un- 
 occupied territor}', forming the newly projected 
 colony, Northern Australia. 
 
 Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land). — Principal 
 towns: Launceston, Hobart Town. English climate 
 and English hedgerows. Products : potatoes, oats, 
 and apples. 
 
 New Zealand, though about the same size as 
 Great Britain, extends over thirteen degrees of 
 latitude. There are very considerable differences 
 in the climate of one place from another ; the 
 southern extremity being cold, the northern warm. 
 There are about sixty thousand natives, ' Maories, 
 in New Zealand, and of this number there are not 
 more than five thousand in the middle island, where 
 Southland, Otago, Canterbury, and Nelson are situ- 
 ated. The northern island, the principal settle- 
 ments in which are Auckland, Wellington, and New 
 Plymouth, being warmer than the middle island, is 
 preferred by the Maories, as it would also seem to 
 be by the European residents. 
 
 More enlarged observation and better acquaint- 
 ance with the Australian colonies would have 
 convinced some Europeans whom I met in the 
 southern settlements of New Zealand, where 1 had
 
 6 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 gone in 1850 on a health-seeking excursion, that 
 they had committed serious mistakes in settHng 
 there. Such places as Southland and Otago are 
 not at all adapted for persons who suffer from 
 pulmonary comj:)laints, in consequence of the 
 frequent rains and cold south-westerly winds, and 
 tho^e emigrants ought to have gone to the high 
 upland parts of Australia, in the gold-digging 
 regions, where the climate is more favourable, 
 where they could have obtained employment 
 easily at remunerative rates, and would not have 
 been reciuircd to do manual labour at sheep 
 stations. A great deal has been said of the 
 healthiness of the Australian climate ; this must 
 be understood, however, to apply chiefly to the 
 high, mountainous parts of the interior, where the 
 atmosphere is very rare, dr)% pure, and warm. 
 Along the coast, and in low-lying parts of country, 
 the atmosphere is much denser ; stifling heats 
 prevail, and some affections, such as dyspepsia, 
 might be aggravated instead of being relieved in 
 such places. The seats of commerce and large 
 towns would seem to be far more favourably 
 adapted to those — such as clerks — who have been 
 accustomed to the occupations of town life than 
 the embryo agricultural settlements. Those settle- 
 ments, always bidding high for public favour, are 
 in need of a different class of emigrants. The 
 consumption of excisable commodities by those 
 persons amply reimburses the Government for the 
 expenses incurred in granting them free passages. 
 The advantages to the labouring class are certainly
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 7 
 
 great when tlie\- fiiul eniplo}'inent al high wages. 
 Those who are in possession of small, carefully- 
 accumulated capital generally require, however, to 
 be cautious as to the mode of investment. ' Don't 
 trust anyone ; judge for yourself Look at two 
 sides of a shilling,' were the words which I heard 
 spoken by the superintendent, or local governor, 
 of one of the New Zealand settlements to two 
 young men who had entered into conversation 
 with him regarding their intentions of settling. 
 Ignorance may be riu'nous. There are many 
 important things to be learned on the spot, a 
 knowledge of which cannot be very well dispensed 
 with ; for in Australia, as elsewhere, instead of the 
 man overcoming the difficulties, the difficulties 
 may overcome the man. ' Two arc better than 
 one ; ' and tlie term ' mates ' is a very favourite 
 expression, well understood by all experienced 
 colonists. The human heart was formed for friend- 
 ship, and, generally speaking, it will not be found 
 good on the part of either individuals or families 
 to be alone in Australia. There is ver\- little to 
 be said about the old and established settlements, 
 the population of towns, and those in the neigh- 
 bourhood who are engaged in agriculture, in vine 
 and in tobacco growing. In those places channels 
 for labour and industr)- have been opened up and 
 vcr\' clearl)^ defined, indicating to emigrants the 
 safest course to follow. In newly-formed settle- 
 ments, however, there are often difficulties in the 
 way of ascertaining tlic proper season for the 
 sowing of grain, and the kind of cultivation suit-
 
 8 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 able to the locality. A ' land-order ' emigrant in 
 Queensland told me that a friend of his had sus- 
 tained great loss from these difficulties. After much 
 labour and expense in clearing and trenching ground, 
 the fruit trees which they planted died in spite 
 of every available precaution. In a more elevated 
 part of Queensland, and in a sheltered situation, 
 there would have been less risk of a loss of this 
 nature. What may be grown with advantage 
 in one place may not be grown with equal ad- 
 vantage in another. Wheat and maize are the 
 two cereals most extensively cultivated. In all 
 the hot districts they are liable, however, to be 
 attacked by the weevil in stack or in bin ; the 
 cold in winter is not sufficient to check the 
 ravages of that much dreaded insect. Australia 
 being of very great extent, there is a variety of 
 climate, and climate will always determine the 
 kind, as well as the mode, of agricultural industry 
 to be adopted. There was a great deal of good 
 sense in a Sydney merchant whom I met, who 
 had brought five hundred coolies from India in 
 one ship, with the object of cultivating cotton 
 on his land in Queensland. Coolies would be 
 much more likely to .succeed as labourers in a 
 cotton plantation than English, Scottish, or Irish 
 immigrants. Besides, they can live very cheaply 
 on rice and sugar. The following extract from 
 the editorial article of a Queensland newspaper, if 
 not conclusive, contains some truth on the subject 
 of cotton-growing : 
 
 ' Instead of cotton cultivation increasing in proportion
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 9 
 
 to the increase in our population, it has decreased, and now 
 [1868], after six years' trial, there seems less probability 
 than ever of its soon taking its place with our wool, hides, 
 and tallow as one of the large staple products of tlie 
 colony. The jmblic companies which were started for 
 the purpose of cultivating cotton in Queensland under 
 the stimulus of choice land on easy terms, and a Govern- 
 ment bonus on the cotton produced, have all either 
 become insolvent or have given u[) the cultivating of 
 cotton ; and of all the small farmers who commenced 
 with the cultivation of cotton four or five years ago, 
 scarcely one can now be found who has a single plant, 
 except it be in his garden as a curiosity.' 
 
 The squatting, or grazing, cattle-breeding, wool- 
 growing parts of the country — Australia proper — 
 have many characteristics in common, and the 
 observations of the writer have a wide general 
 application in relation to those districts. There 
 are many things in Australia, as elsewhere, for 
 which no reason whatever can be given, and it is 
 sometimes rather idle and unprofitable to inquire 
 for a reason. Manners and customs operating in 
 a country, and regulating the conduct of its people, 
 ultimately attain the force of law, and it is for the 
 advantage of everyone interested to be made 
 acquainted with them. It was not in the bond, it 
 was not according to the letter, that those wlio 
 went and took possession of the unoccupied lands 
 .should hold those lands in perpetuity, and claim 
 rights to them almost tantamount to purchase in 
 fee simple. The words in the bond were, that the 
 land was to be taken from them when rcciuired for
 
 lo AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 agriculture. Very, very little, indeed, will ever be 
 required for agriculture ; and the majority of the 
 occupants of the land are not likely to be much 
 interfered with in their possession, so long as 
 they continue to pay the small rental to Govern- 
 ment v/ith which they are charged. They have 
 acquired a right to the land by discovery or 
 by occupation. ' Possession,' it is said, ' is nine 
 points of the law,' and use and wont. King- 
 custom, rule rampant. The present occupant may 
 not have discovered the land, but he paid very 
 highly for his right of occupation to the previous 
 occupant, who, if Jie did not discover the land, 
 also paid for his right of occupation. There was 
 a district in New South Wales which was sold 
 in this way, without a sheep, horse, or hoof of 
 cattle upon it, for 40,000/. ; sold not by the Govern- 
 ment, but by one private person to another. 
 Grievances arise, and will always arise, from such 
 questions where population increases. Smith can- 
 not see the fairness of his buying land at twenty 
 shillings per acre, whilst his neighbour, Thomson, 
 retains possession of twenty, sixty, or one hundred 
 thousand acres, and does not pay one penny per 
 acre of rental. More than one penny might be 
 paid, however, in Victoria, and less in Queensland. 
 Thomson has undoubtedly the best of it ; his land 
 requires no fencing, ploughing, or sowing, for there 
 is an excellent crop of natural grass upon it. But 
 Smith, after all, has not much good ground for 
 complaint. There is plenty of unoccupied terri- 
 tory, and if he desires the advantages of Thomson,
 
 I'KKLIMINARV OBSERX'ATIONS ri 
 
 he has onl)' to do as Thomson or his predecessor 
 did : go and 'take up country,' or, what one Smith 
 cannot do, ten Smiths can accomph'sh, and purchase 
 a station, of which there are many for sale. 
 
 The lartjer number of mankind arc born to Hve 
 on trust, and to think h'ttlc of the laws by which 
 they are to be governed, save how to obe>' 
 them. They leave legislation to the stud\- and 
 occupation of those who have leisure for the task, 
 to those whose presumably superior wisdom and 
 intelligence the}' would much rather confide in 
 than their o\\ n ; and it is very annoying to many 
 poor struggling emigrants, looking out for the 
 means of subsistence for themsehes and their 
 families, to find that no sooner have they set their 
 feet on the shores of Australia, in Victoria, and in 
 New South Wales, than they are instantly installed 
 politicians, called on to give their votes for a 
 member of Parliament, and often to express 
 opinions on matters of which they actually know 
 nothing. Indeed, it would seem to be necessary 
 for one's safety and security to study colonial 
 l)olitics. A member of the New South Wales 
 Parliament, whose hospitality I frequently enjoyed, 
 said to me on one occasion, in self-congratulation : 
 ' I knew what was coming — I have sold out.' All 
 the people cannot be members of Parliament, and 
 all have not the opportunities which this gentle- 
 man had of hearing that the newly-elected Liberal 
 representatives, and those who were at the helm of 
 State, intended at that time to reduce the value of 
 all the best land in the colony, and that land for
 
 12 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 which he had paid i/., 2/., and 4/. per acre would 
 soon not be worth more than five shilHngs per acre. 
 Other highly disturbing changes frequently take 
 place. A diminution in the revenue occasions an 
 alteration in the tariff; there is an imposition of 
 new duties, and merchants, if they will not suffer 
 loss, must watch political movements. Bankers 
 also, and indeed every class in the community, are 
 involved in those changes ; for politics reach to, and 
 often shake, the foundation of the whole fabric of 
 colonial society.
 
 13 
 
 CIIAI'TICR II 
 Till-: r.usii 
 
 First Sight of Australia — Physical Outlines and Configuration -- 
 Eastern and Western Falls of the Water — Climate — Queensland 
 Vegetation — Birds, \Vild and Domestic — Fish — Wild 
 Animals — Reptiles — Fruits, Indigenous and Furopean — English 
 Vegetables — Atmospheric Peculiarities and Phenomena ■ - 
 Diversity of Country and Climate — Occupation of the Land 
 — Geological Wonders — Alligators— New 1 )iscoveries. 
 
 ' BUSII ' is the name given to the natin'al forest or 
 uncleared land, of which there is much, especially 
 along the coast, extending considerable distances 
 inland, and characterised by dense vegetation. In 
 the interior, however, there is very little to be met 
 with ; the country generally presents a park-like 
 appearance, with ridges, hills, valleys, and moun- 
 tains covered with grass, dotted here and there 
 with trees. On the first sight of Australia seaward, 
 a vast?icss discovers itself in hill ranges and high 
 mountain peaks which appear in the far distance, 
 in many directions, and the view thus obtained, 
 though very extensive, is dull, heavy, and mono- 
 tonous. All the land seems to be covered w ith 
 trees, and there are no green hills or parts of 
 country entirely clear of timber to relieve the e}'e
 
 14 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 from the oppressive, dusky, and sombre shade of 
 the AustraHan forest. 
 
 The simiHtude of AiistraHa, in its great physical 
 outUnes and configuration, to the dropping from a 
 cozv, though very homely, is not a bad illustration. 
 There is greater or less unevenness on the surface 
 beginninfr at the coast, and the irregular and 
 ill-defined ridges, hills, valleys, and mountains 
 form a gradual steepness of ascent in travelling 
 towards the interior ; and this steepness continues 
 till the Australian Alps are reached — ranges of 
 high hills and mountains running parallel to the 
 coast, at elevations of two, three, and four thou- 
 sand feet above the level of the sea. Passing 
 beyond the Australian Alps there is a descent, 
 though scarcely perceptible, into the interior. The 
 climate here is warmer, the country more level and 
 more thinly wooded than the quarter which has its 
 fall of water to the coast. The eastern and zvestern 
 falls of tlic zuater are well understood —the eastern 
 being the fall of the water into the ocean, the 
 western the fall of the water into the large basin 
 of the interior, of which the river Murray at 
 Adelaide, navigable for some hundreds of miles, is 
 the great outlet. All the other rivers are navig- 
 able only for very short distances. 
 
 There are great differences in the climate 
 according to latitude, elevation, and situation. In 
 regard to latitude, a mountain in Queensland, for 
 example, may be as high as a mountain in Victoria 
 or in New South Wales, and whilst there will be 
 snow in winter on the mountain in Victoria, and
 
 THE lUJSn 15 
 
 on the one in New South Wales, there will be none 
 on the one in Ouecnsland, the last place being 
 farther north and nearer the tropics. There are 
 some parts of Queensland which are extremely 
 hot in summer ; too much so, one would think, for 
 the English constitution. There arc other parts, 
 again, in high, mountainous districts which are very 
 agreeable, where the heat is not felt to be so 
 oppressive. There are always cooling sea-breezes 
 blowing a long way inland, and in the high upland 
 districts the pure balmy atmosphere is most 
 delicious all the year round. Even in the interior 
 during the hottest days in summer a gentle 
 westerly wind generally commences about ten 
 o'clock every morning, tempering the great heat of 
 the rays of the sun ; .serving as a fan, and drying, 
 as it were, all the perspiration on the body, so that 
 one would never seem to perspire, unless he is 
 engaged in manual labour, or is exerting himself, 
 as in riding. This is not the case in lowland parts, 
 however, such as those near the coast, the atmo- 
 sphere there being much denser. The nights in 
 hot districts in Queensland are frequently extremely 
 cold, and the days extremely warm. The two 
 great extremes of cold and heat would not seem, 
 however, to be prejudicial to health. The climate 
 is very dry, and catarrh and many otlicr diseases 
 are almost unheard of. 
 
 Botan)' Bay was a ver)' appropriate name for 
 the part of Australia which was first discovered, 
 for that region is thickl\' covered with large 
 flowering shrubs of a varied and beautiful character ;
 
 i6 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 but the whole continent might well admit of the 
 designation ' Botany Land.' There seems to be 
 an endless variet}' of vegetation, differing in dif- 
 ferent parts of country according to climate, soil, 
 and situation ; and the economy of nature is very 
 striking, every quarter being occupied by, and 
 appropriated to, the growth of some description 
 of vegetation suitable to the locality, and found 
 nowhere else. In a temperature and soil, for 
 instance, similar to those of New Zealand, the 
 ground is thickly covered with fern, including the 
 tree fern and the cabbage tree. In the great 
 \'ariety of climate there is a corresponding variety 
 in the forms of the vegetable world, and what may 
 be found in one place will not be found in another. 
 One of the greatest hopes of the graziers in New 
 Zealand is the naturalisation and the rapid diffusion 
 of English grasses. There is nothing of this kind 
 wanted in Australia, however, as it is already 
 stocked with natural grasses, of sorts exactly suited 
 to the particular districts in which they are found 
 growing. English and other grasses have been intro- 
 duced, and some of these, as the white clover, may 
 be found growing most luxuriantly in alluvial spots. 
 It only grows, however, for a very short period, the 
 great heat and dryness of the climate being un- 
 favourable to spreading. The natural grasses 
 strike their roots deeply into the soil and are very 
 hardy ; though exception might perhaps be taken 
 to them in many places where they appear to be 
 tufty, thickly spread, and not covering all the 
 surface, whilst they are liable to be seriously
 
 THE BUSH 17 
 
 injured by over-stockiny;. This is not su much the 
 result of the nature of the grasses as the faults of 
 the soil and of the climate, as in more favourable 
 situations the land is thick)}- matted with grass, 
 and over-stocking would seem to benefit instead of 
 injuring it. It is not merely grass, however, but a 
 great variety of nutritious herbs, upon which sheep, 
 cattle, and horses are dependent for pasturage. 
 During a day's journey over the open pasturage 
 land of New Zealand one might see little else than 
 stinted flax and fern tussock, grass and anise plant. 
 During a day's journey over some of the pasturage 
 land in Australia, one would see wild flax, 
 the same as that which is cultivated in Great 
 Britain ; wild tares, wild oats, wild hops, trefoil, 
 chickory, camomile, sarsaparilla, horehound, daisies, 
 buttercu[)s, hyacinths, violets, wild carrots, parsnips, 
 and an innumerable variety of other vege- 
 tables. It would be futile to attempt to give 
 any general description, however, as one part of 
 the country differs so greatly from another, whilst 
 what is found in one place may not be found in 
 another. The astonishing variety of vegetable life 
 is certainl}- one of the great leading ph}-sical 
 characteristics of Australia, but one must travel 
 far and wide to appreciate this fact. It docs 
 certainly appear most remarkable that, amid 
 the apparently endless variety of vegetation, 
 poisonous plants are rarel\' hearci of In some 
 parts of South Australia the tiitc. .so anno\-ing 
 to sheep-farmers in New Zealand, is found : 
 but, with this solitary exception, no one ever hears 
 
 C
 
 1 8 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 of shcc[) or cattle d)-ing from poisonous plants in 
 Australia. 
 
 It is a beautiful arrangement of Divine Provi- 
 dence, and a good illustration of the special care 
 of Him who doeth all things well, that in a part of 
 the world of His creation liable to severe droughts 
 and want of seasonable showers of rain a special 
 remedy should have been provided to meet the 
 want., and a kind of coverlet should be made, 
 altogether of a singular textiu'e, to be thrown over 
 the land to protect it, and thus to render it adapted 
 for the purpose in the great design of its creation. 
 HaJ all the human beings since the creation of 
 the world been employed in digging, trenching, 
 casting up large mounds of earth mixed with stone, 
 gravel, and boulders of rock, to prevent the soil from 
 being washed away by floods, the whole sown with 
 nutritious grasses, and finally planted all over with 
 trees to prevent the grasses from being scorched 
 and burnt up to the roots by the fierce heat of the 
 sun's rays, it never could have been done so well 
 as it has been done by the great Creator. The 
 trees which are spread all over the land are just of 
 a kind specially adapted to give covering and 
 shelter to the grasses without destroying them. 
 They are ever-green, and the most prevailing kind 
 of them shed their bark and not their leaves ; not 
 their whole bark, but the outer layer, like the 
 scarf-skin of the human body. The leaves are of 
 a narrow elongated shape, of hard gummy texture, 
 and they all droop down towards the earth ; the 
 heat of the rays of the sun in passing through them
 
 THE nusii 19 
 
 aiul the trees' .s[)iinL;leel braiiel^es is thus broken, 
 and genially tempered to the tender grasses under- 
 neath. The value of these Australian trees for 
 shelter has been appreciated by the sheep-farmers 
 in New Zealand, who are importing seed of the 
 gum-trees — which grow very rapidly and to a large 
 size — and planting part of their farms with them ; 
 the pasturage land in New Zealand often resembling 
 the bleak, bare hills of Scotland. The timber is 
 valueless for cabinet-making purposes, however. 
 In some places a considerable distance from the 
 coast there are clumps of forest to be met with, 
 similar to the forest in New Zealand, which contain 
 a large variety of hardwood trees, pine, rosewood, 
 satinwood, cedar, and many others which for 
 cabinet-making purposes are quite as good timber 
 as any which can be found in New Zealand. In 
 the interior there is nothing of this kind, and the 
 only serviceable woods for building and fencing are 
 the string}' bark and iron-bark : failing these, the 
 box. The iron-bark, as its name denotes, is an 
 exceedingly hard and durable description of wood. 
 There are similar hardwood trees along the coast, 
 and small pieces of them form an appreciable article 
 of export to Great Britain for the use of shipbuilders. 
 The so-called cherry-tree, with the stone outside, 
 resembles a large shrub of the pine species, having 
 small red berries upon it, like the pine-trees in New 
 Zealand. The myall is in great repute for making 
 handles for stock-whips ; it is very close grained, 
 highly scented, and never grows to a large size : 
 cattle are \cr\- fond of eating the leaves, and, as a 
 
 c 2
 
 20 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 consequence, ' Myall country ' is usually considered 
 first class. The apple-tree, so named from the 
 leaves bearing some resemblance to the leaves of 
 the ordinary apple-tree, is the only other tree for 
 the leaves of which cattle and horses would seem 
 to have any liking. There are many of the trees 
 with peculiar names which are sometimes calcu- 
 lated to mislead. The oak resembles a pine-tree, 
 and is never found save where there is water, by 
 the side of a creek or a river. The honeysuckle 
 is a tree which appears to have received the name 
 from its deep green and shining leaves. 
 
 ' Limestone ranges,' ' box,' ' myall,' ' apple-tree,' 
 * salt-bush,' ' gum and stringy bark,' ' plains,' and 
 many other names are seen in the advertisements 
 of ' runs ' for sale. There is one general descrip- 
 tion applicable to these runs — they are thinly 
 covered with trees, and the plains are not an 
 exception to this. There may be plains, and of 
 very considerable extent, without trees, where the 
 mirage beguiles the wearied traveller, but they bear 
 no proportion to the country described as plains 
 which have trees growing upon them. There are 
 scrubs existing in some places ; those on the eastern 
 side of the dividing range, visited by the coast 
 rains, from which the cedar and other highly-prized 
 wood is obtained, are dark, dense, and impenetrable 
 forests, surpassing anything of the kind to be met 
 with in New Zealand, containing countless varieties 
 of plants, bushes, and trees, like some epitome of 
 the whole vegetable kingdom, differing in the 
 luxuriance of growth from aught found elsewhere,
 
 Till-: nrsii 21 
 
 and seeming as if a part of Borneo or some other 
 tropical region had been transf(M-red to AustraHa. 
 Many of the trees, such as cedar, pine, and rosewood, 
 arc of gigantic proportions. Parasitical and creeping 
 plants are very numerous ; the wild vine hangs 
 down in festoons so much woven and interwoven 
 in the branches of the trees that entrance into 
 one of the scrubs is impossible without the aid of 
 a hatchet, and even with this auxiliar\- it is not 
 very safe for the uninitiated to attempt an entrance. 
 In addition to the risk from snakes there is a 
 nettle-tree which has been fatal to horses and 
 cattle which may have come in contact with it, 
 and it would not likely be less sparing of a man's 
 face or hands. There are bricklow scrubs in some 
 parts of the northern interior, which served in 
 the early days as a harbour for blacks, and which 
 now occasion great difficulty in getting the cattle 
 out of them when they are wanted. Scrubs appear 
 here and there, but it is very seldom that they 
 are heard of as impeding the operations of the 
 grazier. 
 
 One is very apt to imagine that famih'es 
 dwelling far apart from each other in the pastoral 
 districts, three, four, six, or eight miles, must be 
 liable to suffer and be distressed by a painful feeling 
 of solitariness. This is rarely the case, I think ; 
 at least I never knew of anyone making the com- 
 plaint. Persons who are out with their flocks of 
 sheep from morning to night, from one year's end 
 to another, may indeed frequently complain, but 
 they always look forward to a more settled mode
 
 22 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 of life when they have earned sufficient pecuniary- 
 means to estabhsh themselves in a township, and 
 follow the occupation to which they had been 
 originall}' accustomed. There is a great deal in 
 the topographical features of the country and its 
 teeming abundance of life to amuse, interest, and 
 relieve the mind of the feeling of loneliness which 
 might otherwise prey deeply upon it. The adap- 
 tation of external nature to the human mind is 
 here wonderfully manifested. There is a largeness, 
 openness, and sincerity in its natural aspect, every 
 part being distinctly marked and visible in the pure 
 gleaming sunshine. There are no dark dells, places 
 of concealment for the mind to conjure up objects 
 to alarm ; and there is no want of the most cheerful 
 and innocent companions in innumerable feathered 
 songsters, from the early dawn of the morning to 
 the setting of the sun. It is said that the birds of 
 Australia do not sing, that they merely chirp and 
 chatter. Some of them chat most hilarious notes, 
 like the tinkling of bells. The ' laughing jackass ' 
 is a prodig)', unexpectedly giving out a loud, 
 uproarious noise sufficient to awaken the ' seven 
 sleepers.' Many of the birds are of the same type 
 as those of Great Britain ; but they vary a 
 little in their plumage. There is our domestic 
 pet, the robin, with the wren, wagtail, crow, curlew, 
 plover, and snipe. There are also the harbingers 
 of spring and summer in the several varieties of 
 swallows, and the cuckoo. The cuckoo is only 
 heard at night. There are bats, owls, and hawks 
 in great abundance, and the mountain pheasant, or
 
 THE RUSH 23 
 
 lyre bird, which, however, is rare. The cattle-hawk 
 is very large, and destructive to yi)uiig lambs : there 
 is one species of pure white colour. There arc 
 many varieties of pigeons ; one is very small, being 
 about the size of a house-sparrow : it is seldom 
 that more than two or three are seen together ; and 
 there are no large flocks of them such as are seen 
 in the forests of New Zealand. The fleshy berries 
 with which the pine-trees are covered in that colon}' 
 furnish them v/ith the greatest abundance of food, 
 and they do not appear to have the enemies which 
 they have in Australia. The macaw, a large black 
 parrot, and the quail seem to be the only two 
 birds exactly alike in the two countries, with this 
 remarkable difference — the macaw in New Zealand 
 is very tame, permitting one to come near and kill 
 it (at least I know that one permitted me to 
 approach it), but in Australia it is exceedingly 
 wild and, indeed, almost untamable. There are 
 some large birds in New Zealand which do not fly, 
 and some of singular habits, like the mutton bird, 
 which burrow holes in sandy places in the ground. 
 The natives have their seasons for catching them, 
 and adopt ingenious methods of preserving them 
 for future use, in a preparation of fat and 
 aromatic herbs. There is the robin, too, in New 
 Zealand, where it is \cry tame. Once in 
 my travels, one perched on my shoulder. 
 There are man\' other birds of hallowed asso- 
 ciations which make the forest resound with mirth 
 and melody. The most remarkable perhaps is the 
 ' tui,' or ' parson bird ' ; the latter name having been
 
 24 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 given it in consequence of its being jet black, and 
 having two small white feathers like a clergyman's 
 bands hanging out from its breast. It is of the 
 same size as the blackbird, and is the most noisy 
 of all the New Zealand birds. There are parrots 
 in New Zealand, but not in any proportion to the 
 very great variety which exist in Australia. The 
 climate in Australia being so widely different, 
 there is a corresponding difference in animal life. 
 Among the birds, the most prevalent are parrots. 
 The large white parrot-cockatoos are always seen 
 in flocks, and are great pests to the farmers. The 
 greatest favourite is the magpie, which may always 
 be observed hopping about the door of a dwelling, 
 piping out a long carol of friendly salutations. Of 
 the wild turkey, more properly the bustard, one 
 seldom sees more than two together. The brush 
 turkey, very like the Norfolk, but much smaller, 
 and found in the scrubs in hot districts, is very 
 remarkable for laying a large quantity of eggs, for 
 covering them with leaves and sand, and leaving 
 the sun to hatch them. The emu is nearly as large 
 as an ostrich, to which it bears some resemblance, 
 but it is dark in colour ; it lays about a dozen 
 eggs, and hatches them in the same way as 
 domestic fowls. Large numbers of them may 
 be seen together ; they do not fly, and owe their 
 safety to their fleetness in running. A stroke 
 from one of their feet will stun, if not kill, a 
 dog. The ' native companion ' is a gigantic crane, 
 which is very easily tamed ; but it is dangerous 
 for children who may come near, as it has been
 
 THE iirsii 25 
 
 known to make a sudden dart with its loni^ 
 narrow bill at their eyes. It cvidenti}' takes great 
 delight in companionship, and flocks of them 
 may be seen together, where there is plenty 
 of water, employed — as one would very readily say 
 — in amusing themselves, fluttering about, chatter- 
 ing, and performing antics. The pelican and black 
 swan are often seen sailing with great gravit)' 
 amongst numbers of other water-fowl in the sheets 
 of water in the courses of the rivers in the interior. 
 Wild geese are of migratory habits, and are only 
 seen occasionally. Wild ducks are very plentiful, 
 and abound everywhere in the rivers, creeks, and 
 lagoons. The aborigines adopt a curious method 
 of catching them, which borders strongly on the 
 ridiculous. Covering his head with a green sod, a 
 native quietly swims towards and drops in amongst 
 a flock, sei/xs a bird by the feet, and pulls it 
 under the surface of the water, despatches it there, 
 and carries on the work of death in this way till 
 nought remains save the dead bodies floating on 
 the surface. There are also wood ducks, which are 
 so-called in consequence of their roosting on trees 
 at night. They arc very abundant in some places, 
 and are not easily distinguished from common wild 
 ducks. The musk duck, which smells very strongly 
 of musk, has the bill of a duck, cannot fl}^ like its 
 co-partner, the widely-celebrated water mole, which 
 forms the connecting link between birds and 
 beasts ; the latter always diving under water when 
 anyone approaches it, but it soon rises again. 
 
 There is the greatest abundance of cod-fish in
 
 26 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 the deep parts of the ri\crs in the interior, and they 
 form one of the principal means of subsistence of 
 the aborigines, who are very expert in spearing 
 them — whilst catching them with hook and bait 
 ser\es as a very agreeable and profitable pastime 
 to their white brethren. Where there are no cod- 
 fish, as in the eastern falls of the water, plenty of 
 eels are usually found. 
 
 The kangaroo and opossum have a right of 
 precedence over all the class mamnialia, as they 
 supply the aborigines with food. They appear 
 to be found everywhere. Kangaroos may be 
 observed sometimes in unfrequented parts of the 
 country in considerable numbers together, quietly 
 browsing like a small herd of deer. They are 
 very easily frightened, and if any of the females 
 have young beside them when danger is appre- 
 hended they instantly put them, by means of their 
 small fore-feet, into their pouch, or the young leap 
 in themselves, when the parents hasten away, not 
 running, but leaping — sometimes incredibly long 
 distances, as if they were actually flying, over fallen 
 trees, rocks, and gullies. When chased by dogs, 
 and hard pressed, the females carrying young take 
 them from their pouches and drop them on the 
 ground. They are very harmless ; but it is scarcely 
 safe to come to close quarters with some of the 
 males, which are called ' old men.' In one instance 
 which came under the writer's notice, a gentleman, 
 possessed of sixty thousand sheep, narrowly escaped 
 being drowned by an ' old man.' It was rather
 
 'IIIE IJUSII 27 
 
 amusing to this gentleman to cry ' hilloo ' to his 
 kangaroo dogs when hunting. All the amusement 
 ceased, however, when an ' old man ' came leap, 
 leaping towards him, clutched him round the waist 
 with its fore-feet, and commenced hop, hopping 
 away with him to a large water-hole to drown 
 him — a well-known and dangerous practice which 
 kangaroos have of fighting their enemies. He 
 cried out lustily, as he might under the circum- 
 stances be very well excused for doing, and the 
 faithful dogs came to his rescue. Their hind-feet 
 are the kangaroos' weapons of defence, and, being 
 possessed of immense muscular strength, they will 
 rip up a dog at one stroke, and they very frequently 
 do so. The wallaby is a smaller kind of kangaroo, 
 and harbours amongst rocks. It is a harmless 
 little beast, though there is always pleaded in 
 apology for the cruel .sport of killing it, that 
 it is for ' the tail to make soup,' the only part of 
 the carcase which is used by the white Nimrods. 
 
 The opossum is the great article of dietary of 
 the aborigines ; it is also much valued by them — 
 as it is sometimes by Europeans — for the sake of 
 its skin, which is used for making opo.ssum cloaks 
 and blankets. It is not much larger than a good- 
 sized rabbit. It is found in hollow trees, which the 
 aborigines may be always observed narrowh' 
 scanning for marks of the claws of the animal's 
 feet. It subsists on foliage of trees, but it is very 
 partial to maize and fruit, and multiplies with 
 astonishing rapidity where they are growing
 
 28 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 The fl)-ing foxes and squirrels, in hot districts, are 
 charged with a great amount of depredation. All 
 these animals are nocturnal, and, like other night 
 prow lers, escape the just reward of their misdeeds 
 by coming out of their hiding-places at dark and 
 never being seen during the day. There are a 
 large number of creatures of which very little is 
 known, and there are many peculiar to certain 
 places. They are all of small size, with the excep- 
 tion of the wombat, or native bear, an animal 
 which burrows holes in the ground and lives on 
 leaves of trees — a kind of sloth, but resembling a 
 bear ; it is very harmless, however, as are all the 
 others. 
 
 The native cat is a beautiful speckled little 
 creature, but, unfortunately, it has nothing save its 
 beauty to recommend it ; it is the great devastator 
 of poultry-yards, and the source of much vexation, 
 loss, and grief to housewives. There is a large 
 tiger-cat, but it is rarely seen. The native dog 
 deserves all the bad names which are given to it. 
 If in killing a sheep it would content itself by 
 satisfying its hunger in feeding upon it, like the 
 lion, there would not be much to be said against 
 it. The native dog never does this, and the 
 whole pleasure it would seem to have is in destruc- 
 tion — in the biting, maiming, and worrying of as 
 many as possible. It is a pity it should ever have 
 been called a dog, as it bears a much closer 
 resemblance to a wolf or a jackal ; it howls, and 
 does not bark. It has nothing of the cunning of 
 the fox ; it takes bait very readily in small enclosures;
 
 THE HUSH 29 
 
 and ihe liberal use of strychnine in bits of meat in 
 places which they are seen to frequent has resulted 
 in almost a total riddance of the grievous pest 
 in some places. In consequence of sheep being 
 always kept closely in hand during the day, and 
 the shepherd following them attentively during 
 the night, the opportunities for the native dog 
 to attack sheep arc strictly guarded against. It 
 is very different with young calves, however. 
 A cow conceals its calf when newly dropped, 
 and before it is able to follow. It is when 
 thus concealed that the native dog takes the op- 
 portunity of falling upon it as prey. There would 
 never seem to be any danger of a native dog killing 
 a calf alongside its mother, and a native dog 
 attempting to do it is one of the grandest sights in 
 nature. The loud, distressing lowing of the cow, 
 when danger is thus threatened to her calf, is a 
 signal to the whole of the herd to come to 
 her assistance. The signal of distress is answered 
 in a loud bellowing by all the cattle within 
 hearing, and is despatched, as it were, in tele- 
 graphic calls far and wide. On, on they all rush 
 to the cow and calf at a most terrific pace — roaring 
 and bellowing the while, heedless, apparently, of 
 their own safety in leaping over fallen trees and 
 gullies, and as much infuriated as if a stream of 
 liquid fire were passing through their \eins. The 
 best appointed arm)^ in the world would not with- 
 stand the onset of one of these herds of cattle, as 
 thousands may be collected in hastening to the 
 rescue of a calf
 
 30 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 Lizards and guanas arc very numerous ; and, 
 speaking of them as one species, they may be seen 
 from two to three inches to two to three feet in 
 length. The smaller ones live upon flies and other 
 insects ; the larger upon mice, other vermin, and 
 young birds. There is one very large kind, like 
 a mini^iturc alligator, having rather a formidable 
 appearance ; it seems to live chiefly on vermin, but 
 may be observed very frequently climbing trees, like 
 some of the others, in search of birds' nests. They are 
 all very harmless and, like the snakes, are never 
 seen save in the summer months. 
 
 Everyone very soon learns to take care during 
 summer where he places his foot on the ground, 
 especially when treading on grass, which one does 
 with all the horror that is entertained of snakes; 
 and a kind of patriotic sentiment is evinced in 
 always endeavouring to kill every one of those 
 reptiles that may be seen. The unvarying tale, 
 if the valorous exploit of having killed one is per- 
 formed, is that it was a ' big one ' — always a big 
 one — just as we talk of a big rat. There is one 
 thing for which snakes deserve some commenda- 
 tion — they always strive to get out of the way; 
 but if trampled upon they will bite, in which case 
 it is not so much their fault as the fault of the 
 trampler. Instances of persons being bitten by 
 them are of rare occurrence, in consequence 
 of everyone being on his guard against them, 
 and the almost universal practice of travelling 
 on horseback. They are very prolific, but the 
 system of always burning the grass when it will
 
 Tin: I'.usii .31 
 
 burn, in addition lo bush-fncs, serves to keep them 
 down. They have holes in the j^n'ound, in dead 
 trees, and in the rocks ; they pre)- upon frogs, 
 h'zards, mice, and birds. They sometimes go in 
 .search of mice and rats, and thus fmd their way 
 into houses, and, when they liave ensconced them- 
 selves beneath the flooring, they are regarded with 
 no very agreeable sensations. In these cases cats 
 arc always found to be very useful in constantly 
 keeping their eyes upon the intruder, but they 
 never dare to approach it. Snakes arc also accused 
 of robbing hen's nests. There are several varieties 
 of them — black, brown, diamond, carpet, whip ; 
 there are others, one of which, very rare, is about 
 fourteen feet long. The average length of the 
 other kinds is about three feet. They will not 
 move if you happen to meet their eyes first — in 
 this way they will permit one to come near and 
 kill them ; but at the moment the eyes are taken 
 off, they glide away. They are easily disabled by 
 the stroke of a stick over the back, and, when thus 
 struck, they arc frequently seen to turn round and 
 round, biting their own body. The aborigines eat 
 them, but it is only when they kill them themselves, 
 as their flesh, when self-bitten, would be poisonous. 
 The antidote of the aborigines for a snake's bite is 
 perhaps the most effectual — scarifying or cutting 
 with some sharp instrument the bitten part, and 
 sucking the blood, at the same time using a tight 
 ligature above the wound. There is something 
 deeply significant in the gleam of a snake's eyes, 
 which cannot be better described than as a ' ray of
 
 32 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 intelligence' This, in reference to a repulsive body 
 and inconceivably disgusting tail, is a figure of 
 degradation ; intelligence and impurity meeting 
 together, not always assented to, and not much 
 reflected upon. A gentleman informed me that in 
 crossing a small plain he observed a bird whirling 
 round and round in the air, and always coming 
 nearer towards the earth ; at last it dropped, and 
 did not rise again. On going to the place where 
 the bird fell, there was a snake. The bird had 
 fallen into the snake's mouth through the well- 
 known po^\■er of fascination. Bad as snakes are, 
 they are not nearly so bad as deaf adders, for a bite 
 from one is always supposed to be followed by 
 death. They are about eighteen inches in length. 
 They do not move out of the way, like snakes, but 
 will permit themselves to be trodden upon ; and 
 this readily happens, from their resemblance to a 
 charred piece of wood ; but, fortunately, they are 
 not very numerous, and are never seen in cold 
 districts. 
 
 The entomologist would reap a rich harvest ot 
 delight in Australia. The whole ground and much 
 of the vegetation in summer are literally alive with 
 insects of very great variety, differing in different 
 places — affording another remarkable contrast to 
 New Zealand, where there are very few insects, 
 and where one may lie on the ground with as little 
 fear of them as he would have on his bed. There 
 are great numbers and varieties of centipedes. The 
 tarantula, a poisonous sjDider, and the scorpion 
 have no doubt some great purpose in the economy
 
 THE BUSH % 33 
 
 of creati(jn here, and • arc useful in their place. 
 The greatest amount of harm the insects would 
 seem to do is to create an uneasy feeling whilst 
 resting one's-self on the ground, which it is almost 
 impossible to do without the knowledge of the 
 certainty of smothering hundreds of them. The 
 centipede, however, is quite able to re.sentan injury 
 of this kind. In lifting firewood fear is always 
 entertained -of some poisonous insect. 
 
 Ants are spread all over the surface, and they 
 live as if they claimed to be the sole and rightful 
 owners of the soil. The branches of the highest 
 trees are not exempt from their excursions and 
 marauding expeditions. There are many varieties 
 of them, one of which, the soldier-ant, about an 
 inch in length, will stand up on its hind legs, and 
 in this threatening attitude face a man on horse- 
 back, as if disputing the right of way. They have 
 .settlements all over the bush, with paths leading 
 to them, beaten hard and plain like a great public 
 highwa\\ Some of these settlements are very 
 conspicuous objects ; and the stranger is sadly 
 puzzled in endeavouring to guess what they are, 
 assuming, as they do, the form (^f conical-shaped 
 mounds of red earth, -occurring at intervals, some 
 of which are as large as small ha)'-cocks. These 
 are ant-hills. There are also ant-beds of greater 
 or less size, all teeming with life, and not much 
 elevated above the level of the ground. There 
 is a species which is provided with wings at a 
 certain period. The wings drop off after they 
 have flown about for a short time, and the 
 
 D
 
 34 W AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 grourfd seems strewn with them. The ants are 
 proverbial for their untiring labour and industry, 
 and their thoroughfares through the bush are 
 crowded with them going to and fro, from the 
 early dawn of the morning till late in the evening, 
 those returning to the settlements carr}'ing spoil 
 of some kind or other. In the manna country and 
 season they appear as if conveying bags of 
 flour on their backs. They are the, great bush 
 scavengers, and make prey of all the dead animal 
 matter and all the insects which they can get hold 
 of. Great numbers of them may be often observed 
 engaged in a severe contest with a live butterfly 
 or beetle, which they are careful at first to denude 
 of the wings. Unable to draw it along the road 
 whole, it is cut or sliced into small pieces, to admit 
 of easy and speedy carriage. The law of co- 
 operation seems to be well understood by them — 
 help being always rendered where help is required 
 — and if one of them has been unfortunate in 
 laying hold of too large a piece for carrying, there 
 are always plenty ready to give a helping hand. 
 They have evidently some means of communi- 
 cating information to one another — a language of 
 signs — and they may be frequently observed on 
 their journe}\s to put their heads close together as 
 if receiving and imparting intelligence. The very 
 diminutive black ants are the most troublesome. 
 They have settlements underground, and come out 
 in myriads, when the scouts have discovered some 
 delectable stuff, such as honey or sugar, in any 
 part of a house. They are always seen in a line
 
 THE r.LVSII 35 
 
 like a train of q-unpowdcr, followinc^ one after the 
 other, passing and repassing. ICvery conceivable 
 expedient is resorted to for keeping sugar, preserves, 
 and other sweets out of their reach. The white 
 ant would seem to be one of the principal agents 
 in earth-making in Australia, causing the trees to 
 supply a vegetable mould from the trunks and 
 branches, which is not done with the leaves. In 
 fact, they may be very serviceable in this way, as 
 thc)' will make a heap of earth in a very short 
 time. It is not so agreeable, however, when they 
 effect a lodgment in the pine flooring, and thc 
 other timber of a finely painted and furnished 
 dwelling-house, for they will soon make a heap of 
 dust of it. 
 
 There is a great abundance and variety of 
 spiders, butterflies, beetles, and moths, and some 
 of thc last are very large and beautiful. Every- 
 one complains of thc common house-fly being far 
 too plentiful in summer, and a vcr}' great annoy- 
 ance. The March-fly, thc same as thc gad-fl\', is 
 very tormenting to horses and cattle. The blow- 
 fly occasions immense anxiety, and, though a great 
 foe to strivers after domestic economy, is a great 
 friend of hungry dogs. It is remarkable that sheep 
 never seem to suffer from it, not even when newly 
 shorn, and when the Australian sheep-shearers 
 appear almost indifferent as to shearing the skin 
 off with the wool. No doubt the great dr}-ness of 
 the climate will account for this. 
 
 Mosquitoes, from the bites of which new-comers 
 complain, are not much known in the interior ; 
 
 D 2
 
 36 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 the sandy, bush}-, lo\v-l}'hig parts of countr\-, 
 where there is water, being their favourite places 
 of resort. It is only when first bitten that their 
 bites are attended b)- \-er)' disagreeable eruptions 
 upon the hands and face. The sand-fly in New 
 Zealand is almost as anno}-ing, but neither insect 
 is much worse than our midges. 
 
 Grasshoppers, caterpillars, and locusts are great 
 plagues in certain seasons in some districts, eating 
 up the green grass and the crops of the farmer. 
 They keep always moving in one direction, like a 
 desolating army. It is onl)- during seasons favour- 
 able to the hatching of their ova deposited in the 
 earth that the}' suddenl}'' appear in such multi- 
 tudes. The aphis is also a great destroyer, and a 
 very frequent one, no district being, and very 
 rarely a season, exempt from its ravages. There 
 is also many a sorrowful tale told of the ravages 
 of the aphis in gardens. 
 
 There is a large fly called a locust, which comes 
 out of the ground in summer, leaving its grave 
 cerements generally at the grave's mouth. In 
 some districts the trees are completely covered 
 with them, and they make a most deafening noise. 
 
 There are none of the flying insects so much 
 deserving of notice as the bees. The native bee 
 has no sting, is dark in colour, slender in bod}-, and 
 not much larger than the common house-fly. The 
 aborigines adopt a very ingenious method of dis- 
 covering their hives ; catching one, which they can 
 always readily do where there is water, they fix 
 with gum, which is easil}' obtained from any of
 
 THE nrsH 37 
 
 the trees beside them, a small particle of white 
 down upon its back, let it fly away, and keep 
 running after, kcepint^ their c\'cs intently upon it, till 
 they see it alight at its hi\ c, w hich is always found 
 in a hole in an upstanding tree. One native, with 
 a tomahawk or a stone adze in hand, cuts notches 
 in the tree for his big toes to rest upon, and in this 
 way, making notches as he ascends, using them as 
 steps in a ladder, and holding by the tree with one 
 of his hands, he mounts and very speedily cuts 
 out the honeycomb at the place where the bee 
 was seen to enter. The bark from the knot of 
 a tree serves for a dish to hold the comb, and it 
 is soon devoured at one meal. Hives of English 
 bees were regarded, until a comparatively recent 
 period, as great curiosities. It is most surprising 
 how fast those bees have multiplied, and how 
 rapidly the}' have spread. Farther and farther 
 ever)' \-ear they are found making their way into 
 the interior, to the great delight of many who had 
 not anticipated the arrival of such welcome visi- 
 tors. With the countless numbers of milch kine, 
 and the honey lodged in the trees, it is no longer 
 a figurative expression to say of Australia that 
 it is ' a land flowing with milk and honcw' 
 There arc none w ho have benefited so much from 
 the introduction of English bees as the shepherds 
 and their families. Out all day with their flocks 
 of sheej), and straggling after them amongst the 
 trees, it is ^i pleasant recreation to look for the 
 treasures of honey, and a profitable wa)' of spend- 
 ing their superabundance of spare time. '1 here
 
 38 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 was one liut which I knew of where the man 
 employed as hut-keeper had been very industrious 
 in laying up a large store of it in casks for sale. 
 The atmosphere in some quarters is strongly 
 impregnated, at a certain season, with the smell 
 of honey ; and this is the case especially where 
 a heath much resembling the Scottish heather 
 abounds. The mammosa-tree is one mass of 
 sweet-scented golden blossoms and sprigs, and 
 there are other flower-bearing trees of a larger 
 kind, furnishing no end of pasturage for bees ; the 
 climate would also appear to be highly favourable 
 to their increase. Many of the trees are hollow, 
 in consequence of the destruction effected by the 
 white ant, and these hollow upstanding trees are 
 excellent places of shelter for bees as well as for 
 opossums. 
 
 The peppermint is a tree which grows to a large 
 size, and is found only in cold regions ; it is noted 
 for dropping the manna, an exudation from the 
 leaves which falls early in the season, and w ith 
 which the ground underneath is strewed as 
 with flakes of snow, or peppermint drops. It 
 is considered to be very wholesome, and is the 
 delight of children. There is a great abundance 
 of it at ihc proper season in high, upland districts. 
 There are strawberries, currants, an uneatable 
 orange, and pears, with varieties of small berries in 
 the scrubs, but all are of little account. The 
 native currants, perhaps, claim some importance 
 from being seen in great quantities in Sydney 
 markets for sale. They are sent there in a green
 
 THE BUSH 39 
 
 state, and arc used in making tarts. The only 
 really valuable wild fruit is the raspberr}' — more 
 properly, the bramble — found in eold districts, and 
 largely used b\' the settlers in making preser\es. 
 One seldom hears complaints of the want of fruit. 
 The seed stones of the peach and nectarine are 
 very easily carried, and as easil\' put int(j the 
 ground ; and the }'oung trees grown from them 
 will, in three or four years, produce an abundant 
 sui3[)ly of fruit. Tlie more expeditious method, 
 however, and the one usually practised, is to 
 obtain young trees, which are seen in profusion 
 in neglected gardens. Grafted young trees, when 
 they can be obtained, are always preferred. Peach, 
 apricot, and nectarine are the most common of 
 imported fruit trees, and may be found near 
 every dwelling. Grape cuttings and slips from 
 fig-trees are also easily carried, and there is not 
 much in the climate of any part of Australia to 
 prevent one from indulging in the anticipation of 
 sitting under his own ' vine and fig tree.' One 
 always requires, however, to know the nature of 
 the climate and situation before thinking of 
 planting fruit trees ; and the latitude of a place 
 will not always serve as a rule for guidance. 
 Along the coast the climate may be very favour- 
 able for the growing of bananas, oranges, lemons, 
 citrons, pomegranates, guavas, and loqusts. In 
 the same latitude, but at a higher elexation, the 
 climate may be well suited for mulberries, almonds, 
 walnuts, ciuinces, pears, and [)lums. At a higher 
 elevation still, about two and three thousand feet
 
 40 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 above the level of the sea, and in the same latitude, 
 the climate differs greatly, being much colder and 
 adapted only for the growing of English fruits and 
 vegetables, and the gardens there are found 
 stocked with the same varieties as those of Great 
 Britain : apples, pears, plums, cherries, strawberries, 
 raspberries, gooseberries, currants, peas, carrots, 
 parsnips, radishes, leeks, onions, potatoes, cabbages, 
 and greens. The flower plots, containing the much- 
 cherished roses, dahlias, daisies, &c., resemble, if 
 they do not surpass, equally well-attended plots 
 in Great Britain. Pumpkins and all the melon 
 species are easily grown, and many of them, as 
 the rock and water melon, are good substitutes for 
 fruit. 
 
 ' What a fine country Australia would be if 
 provided with navigable rivers ! ' is a frequent 
 remark. Yet, if there were many navigable rivers, 
 it would not be the remarkable healthy country 
 it is ; whilst there would be none of that pure, 
 balmy atmosphere \\'hich we feel to be one of 
 the greatest luxuries of human existence. There 
 are no stagnant marshes, or at least very few, to 
 hold and drink in the rain as it falls and to serve 
 as feeders of streams. There are therefore no 
 poisonous exhalations to create a miasma in the 
 atmosphere ; to breed the many ills to which flesh 
 is heir. Slight showers of rain are not of frequent 
 occurrence : as a rule, when rain falls, it falls in 
 ' bucketsful.' Creeks, upon which nearly all the 
 country is dependent for supplies of w-ater, are the 
 great reservoirs ; they abound everywhere, between
 
 THE BUSH 41 
 
 the ridges and muuntains, and are set like pails 
 beneath the eaves of a house, to catch and hold the 
 rain as it falls into them, to store it up for future 
 use. They are simply watcrholes at greater and 
 less distance, of greater and less size, and appear 
 in the form of the links of a chain. During a 
 heavy thunder-storm or fall of rain these water- 
 holes are filled, one after the other, and then 
 the superfluous wafer rolling over the surface 
 conceals them entirely from view, when the creek 
 or chain of watcrholes assumes the appearance of 
 a large swollen river. During seasons of long 
 drought many of these watcrholes arc apt to 
 become dr}-, and thus cause the loss of great 
 numbers of horses and cattle, which, being weak 
 from scarcity of pasturage, often sink in the slim\' 
 bottom, and, unable to extricate themselves, perish. 
 Springs are very rare, and it is from the creeks 
 that the rivers are chiefly supplied. During dry 
 seasons, therefore, many of the rivers are very 
 shallow and easily fordable. On the occasion of a 
 heavy fall of rain they rise rapidly, but the flow of 
 water subsides almost as quickly as it rises. The 
 greater portion of the country has the appearance 
 of having been visited by tremendous falls of rain, 
 which have washed awa\- all the vegetable mould 
 and fine soil from the mountains, hills, and ridges, 
 and lodged it, as in many places of the interior, in 
 large heaps, ten and twenty feet deep where, un- 
 fortunately, it is of no use for cultivation, in conse- 
 quence of the prevalence of hot winds which scorch 
 and dr\- up, in summer, all succulent vegetation.
 
 43 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 A heavy and sudden fall of rain after a long- 
 drought carries' away the fine friable soil, as may 
 al\va)-s be observed in these Australian downfalls 
 of rain, as easily as meal would be carried from the 
 roof of a house during a shower ; and there are 
 large tracts of country where there is little soil 
 remaining — nothing being seen but the substrata 
 of clay, shingle, and sand, with tufts of grass 
 and herbs struggling through the surface. The 
 most lamentable feature in connection with good 
 soil, most usually found in heaps, streaks, and 
 patches, is that the great proportion of it is liable 
 to be covered by water, and the crops destroyed 
 by floods. There are matters here of grave import- 
 ance for the political economist and the legislator. 
 There are districts where population should be 
 encouraged ; there are other places where it should 
 be discouraged. Ten thousand acres is a great 
 extent of land ; one hundred thousand acres is still 
 greater ; but there are parts of the far interior 
 where even a goat might not be able to subsist on 
 such a large district at one period of the year ; 
 whereas at another period the same land might be 
 capable of feeding half a million. Having inquired 
 of a gentleman acquainted with the district referred 
 to, why the New South Wales Government could 
 not get an offer of ten pounds a-year for a hundred 
 thousand acres, the answer was intelligible : ' You 
 understand,' he said, ' there is great w ant of hills, 
 and a very level country ; when a flood comes there 
 is no place for the cattle to go, to escape being 
 drowned ; they are surrounded on all sides by
 
 THE BUSH 43 
 
 water, and yet, when a diouy;ht comes, they perish 
 for want of it.' 
 
 Thunder-storms prevail during the mtjnths of 
 December, January, atid February — the time of 
 harvestint^ and sheep-shearing. Hail-storms occur 
 at the same period, and are frequently most de- 
 structive to crops. The thunder is most appallingly 
 loud, accompanied by cracks like the bursting of 
 large pieces of artillery. The lightning, called 
 sheet-lightning, is vi\id and incessant sometimes, 
 without being accompanied by thunder and rain. 
 The forked lightning, which always accompanies 
 thunder and rain, is often seen darting across the 
 heavens in a zigzag direction, frequently coming 
 to the earth in a continuous stream, like liquid fire 
 poured out of a vessel. The number of splintered 
 trees in high, mountainous regions bears evidence 
 of its destructive force. The course of the deso- 
 lating wind, 'the cyclone,' ma\- be found sometimes 
 distinctly marked in a pathway through the bush, 
 trees being torn up by their roots, leaving a track 
 like the clearance for a road or a railway. The 
 fall of rain is far from being general. A few 
 families located on the high coast ranges com- 
 plained to me that it was always raining where 
 they were. I certainl}- had never been there 
 myself save when it was raining. xA. gentleman 
 residing far inland, about the same latitude, men- 
 tioned to me shortly afterwards that he had not 
 seen rain for three )-ears. The country without 
 rain was decidedly the most preferable for the 
 grazing of sheep. The dew falls there plcnlifull)-,
 
 44 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 as it does in similar districts ; the grasses and 
 herbage are of a more nourishing character ; and 
 the sheep are exempt from the diseases to which 
 they are subject in cold, wet quarters. There 
 are always frost and snow on the high mountains 
 south of Queensland during winter, but none on 
 the coast. 
 
 There is as great diversity of country as there 
 is of climate. The undulating ridges, like billows 
 of the ocean, which prevail to a great extent in the 
 interior, are dreary and desolate, monotony seeming 
 to hold supreme sway ; but there are many pic- 
 turesque districts, towering peaks of mountains, 
 hills and valleys, with vistas extending and spread- 
 ing out in all directions. No landscape is thought 
 perfect without water, and a river may be observed 
 frequently gliding softly along, upon which there 
 are sporting numerous varieties of water-fowl. 
 The trees, too, always plentiful, resound everywhere 
 with the notes of birds, and lend a liveliness to 
 the scenery which is otherwise so agreeable and 
 complete. 
 
 Where nature does most, man does least. Toil, 
 sweat, and manual labour are very unsuitable in a 
 warm climate for the English constitution. Ease 
 may be more remunerative than labour, and it is 
 grazing, nothing save grazing flocks of sheep and 
 herds of cattle, to which the great bulk of the land 
 is adapted, and to which it can ever be appro- 
 priated. The ground, as I have said, is occupied 
 by the first discoverers, or by those who have 
 purchased from them or their successors the right
 
 THE BUSH 45 
 
 of occupation. riicsc occupiers pay a )-early sum 
 to the Government for the use of the land which 
 they hold. In the lar^e domain — it may be fort}', 
 sixty, one hundred, or two hundred thousand acres 
 — which may be in the possession of one person, a 
 strong attachment ma)' have grown up, and great 
 interest may be felt, in the place ; and, in those 
 instances where the owner and his famil\- reside, 
 the squatter homes will alwa)'s be found to bear 
 the aspect of thriving little villages. They are the 
 great centres of attraction for working [leople ; 
 and if the mansion-house of the pro[jriet(H- be dis- 
 tinguished far and wide by a generous hospitality 
 to travellers, there will not unfrcqucntK- be found, 
 also, all the elegance and refinement which obtain 
 in the lord of the manor's house in England. 
 
 Gardening is always an agreeable and jjrofit- 
 able pastime where the climate is favourable. A 
 gentleman occupying a station on the borders of 
 Queensland and New South Wales seemed rather 
 ambitious of excelling his neighbours in this de- 
 lightful art, and nature lent him a strong helping 
 hand in his garden husbandr\'. One might guess 
 a long time without thinking what this was — a 
 quarr\' of bone-dust ! This was actually the case, 
 and I was present at the time when the gentleman 
 was digging and carting it away from the mouth 
 of a limestone cave. There were myriads of bats 
 in the ca\c, and magnificent stalactites. 
 
 Geologists and mineralogists will find ever)'- 
 thing to their heart's content in Australia ; if they 
 might not, indeed, have to coin new words to add
 
 45 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 to tlicir \cr\- lai-<:^c \-ocabiilarics. Shepherds have 
 usually tales to tell of something or other which 
 they have found. One showed me a piece of 
 sulphur which he had taken from a layer, another 
 a piece of lead, another a piece of copper ; and 
 one told me that he had ' sunk a well where the 
 ground was covered with lava, and the water was 
 too hot for drinking — tantalising enough in warm 
 weather. 
 
 Much remains to be known of Australia. Every 
 day brings with it a fresh discovery of some- 
 thing or other. The remarkably favourable terms 
 on which persons are permitted to go and occupy 
 unknown parts of the interior and follow the pur- 
 suit of grazing, combined with the great facility 
 of transit, has served hitherto to bring to light, 
 and advance quickly, a knowledge of much that 
 would have otherwise remained long in obscurity. 
 Some years ago a tribe of blacks was dis- 
 covered with no hair on their heads. It was long 
 known that buffaloes and alligators abounded within 
 the line of the tropics in Northern Australia, but 
 it is only very lately that pioneers, in searching 
 for ' runs,' found themselves suddenly face to face 
 with them. Three young lads, sons of adjoining 
 settlers, who had gone on an exploring expedition 
 in the northern part of Queensland in search of 
 country where they might establish themselves as 
 graziers, told me on their return, after an absence 
 of nearly twelve months, of a terrible fright which 
 they experienced on seeing an alligator lurking by 
 the side of a river. They had no knowledge of
 
 THE nusn 47 
 
 an>-thin;4 of the kind before, and thi:^ was a ncii^di- 
 bour — even worse, they thought, than the blacks — 
 for whom they were not at all disposed to cherish 
 any friendly feeling. The)' stuck, however, to the 
 country which the)' had found, and called a large 
 river which thc)^ had discovered b)' the name of 
 the leader of the party.
 
 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 riONEERING 
 
 Early Seltlement \'ariety of Country - Aboriginal Guides — A 
 Pioneer's Experiences — How to Treat Blacks — Facts Relating 
 to Them — Origin of Squatting — Experiences of New Settlers — 
 Aborigines of Australia — Aborigines of New Zealand — Facts 
 Relating to Them. 
 
 Little was known of the early settlement of the 
 interior, all the information having been confined 
 to a small number of persons who occupied large 
 tracts of land. Those settlers had friends and 
 acquaintances whom they were always ready to 
 serve, and it was not in conformity with their 
 interest to make the public acquainted with the 
 discoveries which were being made every day of 
 new territory. There were some who, thoroughly 
 inured to the life and acquainted with the mode 
 of dealing with the aborigines, became very expert 
 in pioneering, and profited largely by selling their 
 right to the country which they had discovered. 
 Some districts were good, some bad, and some 
 indifferent ; and considerable judgment and know- 
 ledge of the natural grasses, soil, and climate were 
 necessary in the selection of eligible spots. There 
 was sound and healthy country, and there was
 
 PIONEER I XG 49 
 
 country altoijethcr uiisouiul and uiiheallh\'. It 
 might be absolutely ruinous to take possession in 
 some districts for the grazing of sheep, though 
 those districts might do for the breeding of cattle. 
 
 Views of permanent settlement were entertained 
 by very few, and the right acquired b}- discovery to 
 tracts of land as large as an I'^nglish or a Scottish 
 county were parted with as readily and freely as a 
 horse may be parted with in a market. These 
 tracts are called ' runs ' ; and the sale and purchase 
 of them continue to form one of the largest 
 business transactions in the Australian colonies. 
 The work of pioneering and ' taking up country ' 
 still continues to be prosecuted with as great 
 vigour as ever — more especially in the colony of 
 Queensland, and also in Northern Australia. 
 And the stimulants to monev'-making, bv' taking 
 advantage of the great opportunities afforded 
 for the increase of sheep and cattle in grassy dis- 
 tricts, without purchasing the land, contiime as 
 potently in operation as in the earl\' days of 
 emigration. 
 
 Representatives of almost e\ery calling and 
 profession may be found sheep-farming in Aus- 
 tralia ; sons of landed proprietors in Great 
 Britain, retired naval and military officers, bankers, 
 barristers, clergymen, clerks, and numbers of others 
 who knew nothing of sheep before they became 
 settlers, sa\e when they had to think or speak of 
 it in the shape of mutton. To learn the manage- 
 ment of sheep was to some almost as difficult as to 
 learn Greek and Hebrew : but, where mone}'- is to 
 
 E
 
 50 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 be made, the \vs.y of making;- it will also be quickly 
 learned, and the sheep being a profitable animal, it 
 is accordingl}- made the subject of patient study 
 and inxestigation. It is the same with cattle. 
 Those who knew as little of a cow and a bull as 
 they did of a male and a female rhinoceros made 
 themselves accjuainted with the breeding and 
 raising of cattle, and to what tends most to profit 
 in fattening them for the butcher and boiling 
 down. .A. ' run,' however, is the first thing to be 
 looked for under certain well-known ' Crown land 
 regulations.' The land in the country to be 
 discovered must be taken up in ' blocks,' each 
 block being estimated to sustain four thousand 
 sheep, and six hundred and fifty head of cattle ; 
 and for each block there is to be paid ten pounds 
 annuall}' at the Government treasury, besides a 
 small assessment on the stock. The discoverer's 
 statement that the land will sustain so much stock 
 is the only guarantee which is required, but a 
 block originally estimated for four thousand sheep 
 may be afterwards found capable of feeding two or 
 three times that number. There never would seem 
 to be any difficulty in obtaining a ' run,' which has 
 been occupied and partly stocked, if we may judge 
 from the advertisements of stations for sale with 
 which the columns of newspapers abound. Ad- 
 venturous spirits, however, save the expense of 
 purchasing the rights which others may have 
 acquired, by discovering tracts for themselves. 
 
 Those who have had long experience in the 
 bush and arc accustomed to the work of pioneering
 
 PIONEERING 51 
 
 and ' taking" up counlr\/ arc al\va}'s careful to avail 
 themselves of the serxices of one or two trusty 
 black attendants before setting out on an exploring 
 expedition. The aborigines ha\e something very 
 nearly approximating to an intuitive knowledge of 
 eligible territory ; and their services are in many 
 ways valuable, as they know the most likely 
 places to look for water, and are expert in catching 
 opossums, which are necessary in the event of 
 provisions falling short. Their senses of sight and 
 hearing are remarkably acute ; they very soon 
 detect the presence of other blacks in the locality, 
 and give timely warning against any danger which 
 may be likely to arise from a sudden attack, 
 should the natives prove hostile. Fears are 
 seldom entertained of their desertion, or of their 
 fraternising with other tribes of blacks which may 
 be met with. Their loyalty to the tribe to which 
 they belong is proverbial, and desertion to another 
 tribe would be met with most severe punishment. 
 Besides, they would be certain to meet with no 
 very welcome reception from another tribe. As 
 their services are given more from goodwill than 
 from hope of reward, it is only from attachment to 
 persons with whom they are well acquainted that 
 they are ever prevailed upon to lend themselves as 
 parties in an exploring expedition. 
 
 The kindness extended by some settlers to 
 aboriginal children in domesticating them, and in 
 giving them employment as the)- grow up, has been 
 sometimes the means of enriching the families of 
 the former. The black bo)-s who ha\'c formcel an 
 
 £ 2
 
 52 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 attachment to their masters' sons are always ready 
 to do whatever their young masters ask them. In 
 breaking-in refractory young horses, which are 
 usually the most valuable animals, a black's services 
 are always in request ; whilst in rough, scrubby, 
 and mountainous country none can compete with 
 them as horsemen in the mustering of cattle and in 
 ' heading ' mobs of wild horses. Young men who 
 from early childhood have associated freely with 
 them, and are acquainted with their habits and 
 disposition, acquire a degree of confidence which 
 leads them to think little of the difficulties of 
 pioneering and taking up country when the blacks 
 are the great obstacle in the way. The temptation 
 to hazard an enterprise is sometimes very great, as 
 first-rate tracts may remain unoccupied in con- 
 sequence of the blacks being numerous and hostile. 
 Mr. Peterson, the son of a most respected old 
 settler, was not more than twenty-two years of age 
 when he resoKcd to make an excursion into the 
 interior, to take up a station in a part of the 
 countr}' of which he had heard favourable accounts 
 from an old stockman of his father who had been 
 there, and who was now the owner of a station not 
 very far distant from the district to which young 
 Mr. Peterson proposed to go. ' Yes, Micky go, 
 said a strapping young black fellow, apparently 
 quite delighted at the prospect of a long journe)% 
 when Peterson put the question if he would accom- 
 pany him. Tom and I3ill, two old convicts, assigned 
 servants of his father, also said that thc)' would go. 
 They set no value on their lives ; there was nothing
 
 PIOXEERlXCi 53 
 
 to prevent them from L;oinL,^ wliilst tliey were very 
 likely glad of the change. Peterson said, rather 
 thoughtfully, as if warning them of the danger to 
 which he was leading them, * We'll chance it.' 
 Tom said, ' As long as I have my rifle in my hands, 
 I am not afraid of blacks.' A mob of young heifers 
 and some bulls were drafted out from old Mr- 
 Peterson's herd of cattle to stock the district which 
 was to be taken up. The two assigned servants 
 were placed in charge of the bullock-dray, which 
 contained two years' supply of flour, sugar, tea, salt, 
 clothing, horse-shoes, etc., with implements for 
 erecting a hut and a stock-yard ; Micky, the black- 
 boy, and his \oung master taking charge of the 
 cattle and a few head of horses. There was very 
 little expense incurred in the cx])edition, and, as 
 they had all been inured to bush life, everything 
 went on as the)' expected. If the pole of the dra)' 
 broke, Tom was quite competent to put another 
 one in ; and if an\' of the team of working bullocks 
 died, it could be \cr)' soon replaced by one of the 
 heifers which travelled alongside. After about six 
 months' wearied travelling in bush tracks, leading 
 from station to station in occupied districts, some- 
 times on the banks of a river, at other times over 
 stony ridges, through vallews thickly matted with 
 grass, and over mountains and hills thickly covered 
 with trees, they found themselves on the confines 
 of the territory which they proposed taking pos- 
 session of from the black proprietors. Their pro- 
 spects did not look ver\- encouraging, however. At 
 the last station on their journey they saw two men
 
 54 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 on horseback, with carbines in their hands, tending 
 a small herd of cattle. They might have remained 
 there also, and supported one another ; but it was 
 countrx' that the}- wished to take possession of to 
 which a personal claim could be established, and 
 the right to which could be placed beyond all dis- 
 pute b\' the mere fact of priority of occupation. 
 One thing was clear enough, and this they learned 
 from the men at the station — the blacks were any- 
 thing but friendly ; and they had the evidence of 
 this with their own eyes, each of them with whom 
 the}' had met having darted out of sight. Peter- 
 son knew well how to deal with them : not to trust 
 them ; to keep them at a distance, but at the same 
 time to show no hostility towards them. It was 
 satisfactory to learn that no one had been there 
 before him ; that the country beyond was wholly 
 unoccupied, and that he might take. up his blocks 
 anywhere. He continued to travel down the banks 
 of a river, with his dray and cattle — the blacks taking 
 to flight, like wild ducks, as the cavalcade advanced : 
 a very bad omen, and arguing anything but a 
 peaceful settlement amongst them. Peterson was, 
 however, in no way disheartened ; down, down the 
 river he still descended until he came to an alluvial 
 flat, with some ridges closely adjoining ; and here 
 he halted, thinking it would be a good spot for the 
 head station. There was no time to be lost in 
 marking out his boundaries, and in sending a de- 
 scription of the district which he had taken up to 
 the Crown Land Office. Their steeds were in good 
 condition, and, tomahawk jn hand, and accompanied
 
 PIONEERING 55 
 
 by Micky, Peterson rode about ten miles farther 
 clown the river, marked a tree as the cxtrcmit)' of 
 his run in that direction, with frontai^^c to both sides 
 of the river. Peterson was not \ery greedy, at 
 least not so greedy as some persons ha\e been ; he 
 was content with fifteen miles on both sides of the 
 river, extending ten miles backwards, which lie 
 estimated as four blocks. Tom and Bill were set 
 to work, and in a very short time succeeded in 
 erecting a hut. They were proceeding with the 
 erection of the stock-yard, and had gone some 
 distance with a cross-cut saw to fell tiinber for 
 splitting rails. The blacks had been watching 
 them, howe\er, and, unobserved, had stealthily 
 crc[-)t u^) near to them, until they were within reach, 
 and were enabled to make a fatal dart with their 
 spears. Bill was killed on the spot, a spear ha\ing 
 passed through his bod}' ; Tom was mortally 
 wounded his cries were heard, howexcr, by Peter- 
 son, who was instantly at his side on horseback, 
 with his loaded rifle ; but he could onl}- hear from 
 the dying man's lips what had occurred, of which 
 there was fatal evidence in the spear still quivering 
 in his bod\'. Peterson was quite equal to the 
 occasion, though he had ikjw no one but Micky 
 to support him ; and it was rcall)' a most trying 
 situation. Micky was little better than a boy, 
 and was seldom entrusted with a rifle. Peter.son 
 was there all alone, far in the wilderness, sur- 
 rounded by hordes of sa\ages, read}' to fall upon 
 him, all thirsting for his life ; and there was the 
 dray,wilhthc two}'ears' supplies, and a herd of cattle
 
 56 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 to be looked after. So long as he was on horse- 
 back, with the rifle in his hand, and pistols in his 
 holsters, he felt no danger whatever, he said, as he 
 could keep any number of the blacks at bay — 
 could dance round them and pick them off one by 
 one. They had evidently had experience of fire- 
 arms, as they carefully avoided showing themselves, 
 and were afraid to come near or to stand in sight 
 of that of which they have such aversion. Con- 
 vinced that they would make another attack upon 
 their now very helpless party, Peterson was never 
 thrown off his guard, but it was impossible to keep 
 the hut and dray in sight all the day, when he and 
 his companion were both out \\ith the cattle. On 
 returning one night they found that the hut had 
 been broken into, and that the blacks had been 
 helping themselves to the two years' supplies. 
 Matters were now becoming serious. There was 
 the prospect of starvation before them, or the alter- 
 native of quitting the district, with the destruction 
 of all Peterson's fondly-cherished hopes, added to 
 the loss of the two men, and it was very apparent 
 that the blacks kept their eyes closely upon them. 
 Surmising that they would soon return again, he 
 entrusted' Micky with the charge of the cattle, and 
 lay in ambush within rifle range of the hut. He 
 had not been long concealed when he observed a 
 black fellow crawling stealthily towards it on the 
 ground ; he levelled his rifle and, taking sure aim, 
 fired— the black fellow lay dead. Peterson had his 
 plans formed. He knew that the aborigines were 
 very easily frightened ; he, therefore, cut off the
 
 PIONEERING 57 
 
 black fclKnv's head ami buried llic remainder of 
 his body ; the head he carried iiUo the hut, and 
 carefully deposited it in a cask from which they 
 had been al)stractin,L;' sugar. A large number of 
 blacks came next day to the hut ; they obtained 
 an easy entrance, and, watching their movements 
 at a distance, to his great satisfaction, he obserxed 
 them making out of the hut in the maddest 
 possible haste, stumbling over each other in their 
 eagerness to escape. Their sudden flight and trepi- 
 dation were easily accounted for : their e}-es had 
 caught sight of the black fellow's head. I have the 
 authority of J^eterson for sax'ing that the blacks 
 deserted the district immediately, and that he was 
 never troubled with them again. He made some 
 important observations to me as to the manner in 
 which wild tribes of blacks ought to be treated, 
 which agreed exactly with the statements of others 
 who have had a great deal of experience amongst 
 them. The most of the ' brushes ' (butchering, 
 you know) with the blacks arise from the sheer 
 brute ignorance of the whites. They first make 
 friends of them, and pamper their animal tastes 
 and propensities, which must be gratified, and it is 
 very natural for them to take a man's life, or to do 
 anything else which might stand in the way of ob- 
 taining a bit of tobacco, some sugar, or some flour. 
 The point to be observed is to keep them in sub- 
 jection by awe and reverence — prohibit them 
 from coming near the homestead — don't meddle or 
 disturb them in any wa\' ; and if they want tobacco 
 or anything, give it mcrel)- in payment for work,
 
 58 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 and r.othint;" more. Kindness they don't under- 
 stand. Those remarks, however, apply only to 
 districts where the natives arc wild and unruly. In 
 quarters which have been long occupied tribes of 
 blacks ma}' be seen roaming about from station to 
 station on the most friendly terms with the settlers, 
 not the slightest fear being entertained of them — 
 many of them, in fact, being strongly attached to 
 their masters, and making themselves highly useful 
 to the settlers. The females very frequently act as 
 domestic servants and nurses, whilst the men are 
 employed as bullock-drivers and stockmen, and 
 the boys in going messages or in tending cattle. 
 They will never, however, remain long at one place, 
 and are always ready to fly, like birds out of a cage, 
 back to the bush, where they live encamped by the 
 side of a creek, or river, subsisting on grubs found 
 in dead trees, opossum, or fish — or on an occasional 
 young calf. They seldom remain longer than one 
 night, however, at one place. Messages are very 
 frequently sent to all the members of a tribe — 
 some of whom may at the time be very profitably 
 employed at stations — to attend a ' corrobora,' or 
 meeting of the whole tribe, to enforce the observance 
 of some heathenish rites ; or, perhaps, to prepare 
 for battle with another tribe for some offence, such 
 as that of taking away one of their ' gins,' or 
 females. 
 
 It is always understood that to take families 
 into districts where there is danger from the blacks 
 would be highly improper, and such a course 
 is generally carefully avoided. Mr. Peterson
 
 PIONEERING 59 
 
 mentioned the case of a famil)', w itli whom the 
 writer was well acquainted, who ran serious risks 
 from the proximit\' of some of the more unruly 
 aborigines. The father of the family had engaged 
 himself as su[Krintendcnt of a station on the very 
 outskirts of occupied countr\', and took his family 
 with him. A white woman in that quarter was a 
 novelty, and Peterson did not grudge a journey of 
 seventy miles to visit the family occasionally. He 
 warned them, however, of the great danger to 
 which they were exposing themselves by permitting 
 the blacks to go in and out of their house, and by 
 showing great kindness to them. In long-settled 
 districts such a course would be thought nothing 
 of, and indeed it prevails universally ; but this 
 was a different case. During one of his visits, Mr. 
 Peterson thought it proper to expostulate again 
 with his host and hostess on the impropriety of 
 their conduct. The advice was immediately acted 
 on, and a black fellow, on being refused admittance 
 into the house, went away very moodily — seemingly 
 as a much wronged and injured person — and having 
 laid hold of his spear, which was outside, he 
 returned and threw it with all his strength from 
 the door of the house. It was intended for his 
 benefactress, who was at the fire-place at the time 
 with a tea-pot in her hand. She narrowly escaped 
 being killed, the spear having passed beneath her 
 arm and pierced the side of the tea-pot. Fire-arms 
 were immediately in request, and all the encamp- 
 ment of blacks about the place instantl\- fled, 
 brooding over re\-enge. A breach had, however.
 
 6o AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 been created, which it would take a long time to 
 heal. In such cases, and in cases of stealing cattle 
 and breaking into huts, severe retaliatory measures 
 are resorted to, and blacks are generally fired upon 
 when the}' are met in districts where their depre- 
 dations have been committed, or they are driven 
 off like wild animals. This is never considered, 
 however, a very safe and economical method of 
 procedure. Marauding bands of blacks, here to- 
 day, away to-morrow, and bent upon destruction of 
 life and property, are anj'thing but satisfactor}^ 
 and every precaution should be taken to keep 
 them quiet. Some most lamentable instances have 
 occurred of individuals, and even of whole families, 
 having fallen victims to their perfidy and revenge — 
 victims, too, it must be said with regret, of want of 
 knowledge of the aboriginal character. It is almost 
 impossible for any one with the smallest shred of 
 humanity in his soul not to feel compassion for 
 the naked, homeless, miserable, destitute-looking 
 creatures, all wearing the image of humanity, with 
 smiles very often too on their countenances, re- 
 dolent with good nature, and apparently suscep- 
 tible of great sense of kindness. The blacks do not, 
 however, take this view of their case, as they 
 have no consciousness of being so abject as they 
 are supposed to be. Very likely they entertain 
 contempt for those who, acting towards them as 
 if they thought them so, would rob them, if they 
 could, of their freedom and independence. They 
 would appear, nevertheless, to have a strong sense 
 of justice. A woman who refu.ses to give them all
 
 PIOXEERIXG 6i 
 
 she promised for brint,n'ng a suppl)' of firewood 
 has her child taken awa)-, and its mutilated remains 
 exposed on a tree before her house on the following 
 day. The death of an equal number of whites is 
 made to atone for the same number of blacks. 
 Details of their deeds, or misdeeds, would not be 
 very cdifv'inL;", however. The first occupants of the 
 land were left to defend themselves and their 
 property in the best way they could, until the 
 establishment of the native police — a body of very 
 recent origin. An old shepherd pointed out to me 
 an old stock-yard which he had seen at one time 
 stuck round with blacks' heads, to deter other 
 blacks from approaching the homestead. He 
 always went armed, he said, when following the 
 sheep, and could not even go for a bucket of w ater 
 at his hut without another man keeping guard over 
 him with a musket. This old shepherd, in whose 
 hut I stayed one night, whilst narrating some of 
 his hair-breadth escapes, gave a rather curious 
 narrative of the adroit manner in which a black 
 fellow .succeeded in escaping the contents of a 
 blunderbuss. The shepherd had an aboriginal 
 woman living with him, as was ver)' customary 
 with old convicts. The blacks made a rush upon 
 his hut one day when he had been out ; ' they 
 escaped helter skelter, however, when I entered,' 
 he said, ' but there was one black fellow who had 
 not time to get away, he having been rummaging 
 about trying to get something to take with him. 
 I thought I was sure of ///w, and kept pointing my 
 blunderbuss at him ; but what does he do ? he
 
 63 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 la)-s hold of my " gin " and keeps her ah\ays 
 between me and the bkmderbuss, whichever way I 
 pointed it ; I could make nothing of him, so he 
 escaped into the bush, dragging the " gin " before 
 him, and going backwards.' 
 
 It is never thought sportsmanlike, or honourable, 
 to kill or fire at a hare in its lair, and some 
 consideration of this kind might be fairly pleaded 
 in favour of the blacks ; and if three white men, of 
 whom I heard, could — as they really did — surround 
 an encampment, and continue firing amongst them 
 until they were all killed, it only goes to prove that 
 the whites are capable of committing as great acts 
 of cruelty as the blacks. The eldest boy of one of 
 those white men had been taken away and killed, 
 and this fact might go far in extenuation of the 
 frightful barbarity — murdering the whole encamp- 
 ment. But there was certainly nothing of this 
 kind to warrant still more merciless dealing' with 
 blacks in another case of which I heard, where 
 they were disposed of like vermin, by mixing 
 strychnine in the bread in the huts which they were 
 wont to rob. The devil has been called an ' ass,' 
 and there was certainly abundant evidence of the 
 fact in the case of the man who com.mitted this 
 fearful crime, and \n\\osq. grippiness — determination 
 not to lose anything, and predilection for driving a 
 hard bargain — was a point of weakness which easily 
 exposed him to the risk of being taken advantage of, 
 and ultimately rendered him the victim of a swindle 
 by which he sustained the kxss of everything which 
 he had taken such unscrupulous means for holding
 
 PIONKKRINfi 63 
 
 possession tjf. Merchants at the lime were reaH.sing 
 15 and 20 per cent, by advancing; money upon 
 stations ; he entered the hsts with them, and the 
 opportunity was not to be lost of conckidini; an 
 excellent bargain, as he supposed, with a gentleman 
 who was to give him a high rate of interest for an 
 advance of six thousand pounds. It was a con- 
 certed plan to rob him ; he was waited on at his 
 own house, and, at the gentleman's request, gave a 
 draft upon the bank for the amount, deriving great 
 satisfaction at the thought that the payment of the 
 money was beyond all dispute a conclusion of the 
 bargain. The legal formalities by which the right 
 and interest in the station were to be made over to 
 him were to b"b attended to on the following da)', 
 at a stated place and time. Nothing was seen, 
 however, of the ' gentleman ' at the stated place 
 and time ; all that could be ascertained being the 
 fact that he had been seen \ery carl>' in the 
 morning at the bank, and had received the six 
 thousand pounds. The loser afterwards left for 
 another part of the globe, where, perhaps, he might 
 find more honest people to do business with. 
 
 Whilst .s)-mpathising with the blacks, the fact 
 is not to be lost sight of that they are capable 
 of committing frightful atrocities, their conduct 
 sometimes being more that of ferocious wild beasts 
 than of human beings. The refinement of cruelty 
 which they have been known to practise has, per- 
 haps, no parallel in the histor)- of any other race of 
 savages in the world. One of the oldest settlers 
 mentioned to me that he had found one of his
 
 64 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 convict servants tied to a tree, still breathing, his 
 eyes having been gouged out, and portions of his 
 flesh having been rudely pricked out as with the 
 points of spears. The leniency of the blacks, 
 however, is as little extended to those of their own 
 tribe who may provoke their ire by disobedience to 
 some native customs. A gentleman told the writer 
 that a black boy in his service, having failed to 
 comply with some heathenish rites, such as a tooth 
 knocked out, or something of that sort, was seized 
 by the tribe he belonged to, cut and hacked all 
 over with boomerangs, was at last subjected to the 
 very extremity of torture, and pinioned down to an 
 ant-bed with forked sticks. In this position his 
 employer found him, but life had fled. 
 
 During the long, weariful evenings 'vhich a 
 clergyman in the far bush is so frequently doomed 
 to spend in the huts of stockmen and others, it is 
 impossible to avoid listening to stories of ad- 
 venturous life. On those occasions the blacks 
 form a very common topic of conversation ; and 
 the recital of encounters with them are sometimes 
 not very agreeable to hear. One stockman, Neil 
 Al'Closky, who was one of the earliest pioneers, 
 assured me that he, with two men and a black boy, 
 was bold enough to face, and fight, and conquer, 
 two or three hundred natives in the open field, in a 
 fair pitched battle. It was at the time of the large 
 emigration to Adelaide from the United Kingdom, 
 when cattle were bringing very high prices. To 
 avail himself of this market, M'Closky, with two 
 men and a black boy, set out with a herd of heifers,
 
 PIOXEERIXn 65 
 
 throu<;li what at th;,t tiiric was unfrequented 
 counti")', followini^ the course of the DarHng river. 
 The blacks mustered in large force as they pro- 
 ceeded on their journey — sometimes in their 
 front, sometimes in their rear, all hooting and 
 yelling at the highest pitch of their voices. No 
 doubt could be entertained of their murderous 
 intentions. The colours red and white — emblems 
 of war — shone out conspicuous!)' from their naked 
 bodies, whilst they were all armed with spears, 
 boomerangs, waddies, and shields. The cattle 
 were greatly frightened, and it was very difficult 
 to keep them together. The herdsmen left the 
 river during a moonlight night with the cattle, 
 witli the object of escaping their foes ; their re- 
 morseless pursuers were, however, upon them at 
 the dawn of morning next day. It was necessary 
 to bring the cattle back to the river to drink, and 
 there were more of the enemy there waiting them. 
 All thoughts of the blacks were sometimes lost 
 in endeavouring to keep sight of the cattle. 
 This state of matters continued for some days 
 in succession, the herdsmen being hunted and 
 pursued at every step of their journey. Con- 
 gratulating themselves that they had at last out- 
 run the blacks, not having seen them for two 
 days, they quietly encamped by the side of the 
 river, and their horses being much fatigued by the 
 reins of the bridles being always held in their 
 hands, they were hobbled and allowed to graze 
 freel}-. Whilst repairing their saddles, and sitting 
 comfortably by the fire, old Joe —one of the men 
 
 F
 
 66 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 — shouted, ' The blacks, the blacks ! ' in a voice of 
 grim horror and desperation. There was no 
 mistake about it — there they were, coming down 
 upon them like a swarm of bees, completely sur- 
 rounding them. The cattle, when the blacks are 
 in any way troublesome, always run off, and bound 
 away, like deer in a forest, at their utmost speed, 
 having a wholesome dread of the natives' spes.rs ; 
 and on seeing and hearing them, M'Closky's herd 
 dashed into the river and swam to the other side. 
 The blacks were rushing in upon them, ' A horse, a 
 horse, a kingdom for a horse ; ' but their horses 
 were hobbled at some distance from the place of 
 their encampment, and it was hopeless to attempt 
 reaching them without being speared. To have 
 got on their horses' backs, even at some risk, was the 
 only likely means of escaping, there being other- 
 wise no hope of averting an attack from the over- 
 whelming horde of savages. All the provisions, 
 however, for the journey lay beside them — flour, 
 salt, meat, tea, sugar, saddles, blankets, etc. — 
 and to have left them would have been to lose 
 everything, and to expose themselves to certain 
 destruction. There was little time for thinking of 
 escape, or for calculating risks ; it was a sudden 
 surprise — the boomerangs came whizzing through 
 the air all round them, and they were for some time 
 kept shifting about and leaping on the ground to 
 escape the dangerous missiles, in much the same 
 way as if they were treading on live coal, or were 
 dancing a quadrille ; and they would certainly have 
 been struck had it not been for the branches of the
 
 PIONEERING 67 
 
 trees with which they were surrounded. How 
 M'Closky managed at this very critical juncture 
 will be best narrated in his own words : ' Steady, 
 men, steady ; you have got your guns and am- 
 munition — let's fire one after the other ; stand you 
 there, Joe ; Jack, stand you there, and I will 
 stand here,' pointing towards the places w'here they 
 were to stand in a circle as it were, with their backs 
 to each other; 'we'll do for them, one after the 
 other ; Jacky I told off for picket duty, to see that 
 none of them crawled on the ground near and 
 through a scrub not far off. I had not finished 
 speaking when Joe roared and bellow^ed like an ox 
 when drawn up to tlic pen with the green hide 
 rope, and the red-hot branding-iron is applied to 
 its ribs — -a boomerang or waddy had struck him 
 on the thigh ; he fell forward, but quickly rose again, 
 determined, he said, to sell his life as dearly as 
 possible.' Children, but certainly not men, might 
 have been frightened at the ' gu}s ' which the 
 blacks had made of themselves, with streaks of 
 pipeclay and red ochre on their faces, and fantastic 
 figures bedaubed all over their naked bodies, no 
 two blacks being alike. They had certainly striven 
 to make themselves as hideous-looking as possible," 
 and . some degree of care had been taken to draw 
 an image of a horrible-looking human countenance 
 on the face of the small bark, or wooden shields, 
 which some of them carried on the left arm, with 
 the object of striking terror into the hearts of their 
 enemies. By frantic leaping, shouting, and by 
 brandishing their spears, boomerangs, and waddies 
 
 F 2
 
 68 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 in the air, they had heated their blood and worked 
 themselves into a state which was intended for the 
 boiling or the fighting point. They had evidently 
 never been under fire before, and knew nothing of 
 the deadl}' character of the weapons which they 
 had set themselves to contend with. Tiiey had 
 now nothing left but spears and waddies, having 
 expended all their boomerangs, which, being in- 
 tercepted in their flight by the branches of the trees, 
 failed to return to them, as they generally succeed 
 in making those singular >veapons of warfare do 
 Their spears are much to be dreaded, as they can 
 throw them to an incredibly long distance, and 
 unerringly hit the object aimed at. If a small bird 
 perched on a tree serves as a target for the 
 exhibition of their marvellous skill in the use of 
 this weapon, the}' will succeed in striking it. 
 They marched boldly up to the front with all they 
 had in the world, and about as naked as they 
 came into it, their conduct being like that of moths 
 flickering round the flame of a lighted candle. 
 M'Closky and his men kept up a rolling fire as 
 black after black approached within dangerous 
 proximity ; but the painted bark and wooden 
 shields were a very sorry protection against the 
 leaden bullets. The hubbub and screaming 
 amongst the ' gins ' as they saw warrior after 
 warrior stricken to the ground, and the cries from 
 the wounded, appeared to discomfit them quickly, 
 and to unman their resolution altogether. All at 
 once the whole body fled, as if some invisible 
 power had come in amongst them, which it would
 
 PIONEERING 69 
 
 be death to one and all to stand near to, or attempt 
 to resist. A partini^ shot from M'Closky's rifle 
 accelerated their speed. The wounded stru^i^gled 
 to get awa}', dragging themselves along the ground, 
 and one of them, seeing a piccaniny, a young child, 
 who had been left behind in the incice, made 
 towards it, grasped it in his feeble arms, stumbled 
 and fell. M'Closky could not look any longer at 
 the horrid spectacle, and was glad to rush away 
 from a place that was ever attended in after-life 
 with harrowing recollections. The blacks were 
 entirely nude — at least they had nothing on their 
 bodies but the usual small strip of opossum skin, 
 like a rope, round their loins, knotted in front ; and 
 there was always the horrid spectacle of seeing the 
 effects of the firing in the gashes upon the naked 
 bodies of the poor savages. It was a severe lesson 
 which had been taught them, one which the 
 survivors could not fail to remember ; and it has 
 been by many such lessons that the aborigines 
 have been subdued, and the life and property of 
 the settlers protected and preserved. The sight of 
 a man with a fowling-piccc, in a quarter where 
 there is hostility or want of confidence between the 
 blacks and the settlers, will cause almost any 
 number of the former to run awa)-, the\' being as 
 easily scared in this way as crows from a newl)-- 
 sown field. It is never desirable, however, that 
 they should be so easily frightened, or that they 
 should be on an\- but the most friendl}- terms with 
 their white brethren. They are dangerous as 
 enemies, but as friends they make themselves
 
 70 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 useful in man}- wa}-.s. A gentleman who occupied 
 a station on part of the river where M'Closky had 
 the brush with them, as a fight with them is 
 modestly termed, assured me that he found them 
 of the greatest service, and that he had no fewer 
 than twenty-five thousand sheep herded chiefly by 
 them. He had studied theijr-character sedulously, 
 had made himself acquainted with the proper way 
 of managing them ; and, having a whole tribe under 
 him, he had succeeded in checking their roaming 
 propensities. 
 
 In the very exciting and interesting work of 
 
 ' taking up country ' no persons were so likely to 
 
 succeed, or were so fully competent for the task, as 
 
 three strong, active young gentlemen newly arrived 
 
 from Scotland, whom we shall call Brown, Smith, 
 
 and Robinson, and who were possessed of a fair 
 
 amount of capital, which they purposed investing 
 
 in sheep-farming. Brown had been amongst sheep 
 
 since he was a boy ; Smith and Robinson were 
 
 very willing to learn ; they were all imbued with 
 
 a strong determination to succeed, and breast the 
 
 waves of adversity, whatever these might be. They 
 
 had not heard much about the blacks, however, 
 
 and did not take them into account in their 
 
 reckoning : but one thing they were certain of— 
 
 whatever others had done, they were capable of 
 
 doing ; whatever difficulties others had contended 
 
 with, they were as capable of contending with. In 
 
 some respects their plan might be said to have 
 
 been well formed, as numbers of young men who 
 
 arrived at the same period, and who had been
 
 PIONEERING 71 
 
 induced to purchase land, had lost all their money. 
 The first settlers could not manage to get along- 
 with their patches of cultivation ; floods, droughts, 
 fluctuating prices, weevil, with the scarcity and 
 the bad quality of labour, sadly dismayed them. 
 Those who had sheep and cattle seemed to be 
 placed bc\'( md the reach of adversity : there was 
 but little labour required in tending them ; they 
 were not so liable to be swept away as a field of 
 wheat, nor would the}' be laid Hat on the ground 
 and thrashed during a heavy thunder-storm ; 
 whilst even in a season of severe and long-continued 
 drought, cattle, sheep and horses, if not too 
 numerous, could find something to subsist on. 
 l^esides, those animals had the power of locomo- 
 tion ; but the case was very different with 
 expensively-cultivated fields of cereals. l*rosperity 
 seemed always to attend those whose wealth con- 
 sisted in live stock ; and the fine natural pasturage 
 of the country afforded scope for carrying on the 
 pursuit of grazing. When a new discovery seemed 
 all at once to have been made, the valuable 
 purposes to which the waste lands might be turned, 
 there was quite a furore. It was at that period 
 that the searching for runs and ' taking up country ' 
 commenced, and from that time is to be dated the 
 origin of squatting — the monopoly of the waste 
 lands by the class called squatters ; which is such a 
 source of heartburnings and disaffection amongst 
 the people. M. the time of Brown, Smith, and 
 Robinson's arrival sheep were selling at two pounds 
 a head, cows at twenty to thirty pounds, and
 
 72 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 horses at sixty to one hundred pounds. With such 
 prices, and an unlimited supply of rich pasturage 
 land at a merely nominal rental, no doubt could 
 possibly exist in the mind of any one that grazing 
 in Australia, with any ordinary degree of care and 
 management, was a most remunerative occupation, 
 and a most eligible mode of investing capital. So 
 thought Brow^n, Smith, and Robinson, and so 
 thought every one. This was a few years before 
 the commercial crisis of 1843 in Great Britain, 
 which brought sheep down in price in Australia 
 from two pounds to two shillings per head, cows 
 from twenty pounds to. twenty shillings, whilst 
 horses suffered much the same rate of diminution 
 in value, bringing ruin to the door of almost every 
 settler. It was during tlie time of high prices, and 
 w^ien the feverish excitement of taking up country 
 was at its height, that Brown, Smith, and Robinson 
 arrived. Their course was clear ; to do as others 
 were doing : to find out a run — to penetrate the 
 interior, and take up country for the grazing of the 
 stock which they intended to purchase. No one 
 could tell them anything about the subject, as 
 no one had ever been there. At least, such was 
 the case generally at that time, though more 
 information may now be gleaned from the memo- 
 randa of explorers. They might obtain a de- 
 scription of the country which had been taken up 
 in any one direction by applying at the Crown 
 Land Office ; they knew also that by far the 
 greater part, nearly all, in fact, of the country right 
 up to the Gulf of Carpentaria was unoccupied, and
 
 PIONEERING 73 
 
 that they would come upon a run scjnicuhcrc or 
 other ; whilst they could not be wronfj in followinj^ 
 the track of others who had gone before them. 
 There was no time to be lost, and instead of going 
 by a very circuitous road, but which was plain all 
 the way to where they proposed travelling, they 
 resolved on shortening their journey, took passage 
 on board a small schooner which was to lead them 
 to a small shipping port, intending to make their 
 entrance from that point into the bush, and cut 
 right across the country, as they had heard that 
 others had done, thus saving themselves a journey 
 of nearly two hundred miles by the circuitous route. 
 Agreeably to the information which they had 
 received, they found everything at the shipping 
 port w^hich they required for their journey — horses 
 for riding, and carrying their blankets, clothing, 
 provisions, tin pots, and other necessaries. The 
 fire-arms which they had carefull)' brought with 
 them from home were strapped along \\ith tlic 
 other freight to the large carr)-ing-saddlcs on the 
 backs of the pack-horses. The\- set out on their 
 exploring expedition in the highest possible spirits, 
 amazed and interested b)' the novelty of the 
 scener}-, by the many singular objects which 
 attracted their attention, and with which they were 
 everywhere surrounded ; birds, trees, shrubs, ever)'- 
 thing was quite new to them, and afforded an end- 
 less subject for conversation. They experienced 
 nothing but joyous sensations, which increased 
 immeasurabh' in the golden dreams which ' hope, 
 high hope,' nurtured within their breasts, of futin-e
 
 74 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 wealth and independence. The kindness of every 
 one with whom they met was everything that could 
 be desired — all being ready to give information, 
 although they were long ignorant of the full force 
 of the meaning of the taunting expression 'new 
 chums ' with which they were sometimes greeted. 
 They had been taught how to hobble their horses, 
 to prevent them from straying when encamped out 
 at night. Not one of them, however, could make 
 damper, and, instead of flour in their commissariat 
 stores, they supplied its place with biscuit ; whilst 
 they learned from a bullock-driver, beside whose 
 dray they encamped on the first night, the use of 
 the quart-pot for making tea. 
 
 The first few nights were spent very pleasantly 
 indeed beside the fire which they had kindled at 
 the usual encamping places where there was water. 
 There was no scarcity of firewood — plenty, indeed, 
 of it everywhere ; the only grievance in the world 
 of which they felt at the time any reason to com- 
 plain was the mosquito, which is always very 
 annoying to new-comers ; but they sought pro- 
 tection from it by rolling themselves up in their 
 blankets ; and, having been fatigued, they were all 
 very soon asleep. For about fifty or seventy miles 
 from the place where they started the road was 
 distinct enough, as it had been trampled by drays ; 
 but beyond this there was, properly speaking, no 
 road, the track being merely a ' marked tree-line.' 
 An experienced bushman could have no difficulty 
 in tracing his way from one tree to another ; but it 
 was altogether different with those unaccustomed
 
 PIONEERING 75 
 
 to bush travelling. The marks on some of the trees 
 would be obliterated in consequence of bush-fires, 
 some of the marked trees would be blown down 
 by hii^h winds ; and once thrown off the track, it 
 would be difficult to find it again. They had come 
 to the marked tree-line, and commenced the ascent 
 of the Australian Alps, described in some old maps 
 as ' impassable ranges,' and there was nothing now 
 to guide them in their course save the trees, which 
 they very soon lost sight of, not understanding 
 the great importance of the tree-line, and the 
 necessity of looking patiently for it as if their very 
 lives depended upon it. They were still in great 
 glee ; always cheering themseUes with the hope 
 that they would soon be out of the forest and 
 have a good view all about them, not knowing that 
 Australia is one immense forest. They continued 
 for several days climbing hills and steep mountains, 
 crossing deep ravines, experiencing great difficulties 
 from bluffs of rock, boulders, loose stones, and the 
 thick underwood overtopped by branches of trees, 
 in which they were frequently employed cutting 
 a passage with their pocket-knives. They were 
 not as yet in any way disheartened. They per- 
 severed, assured that ' perseverance,' as they had 
 often heard their parish teacher say, and as they 
 had also read in books, would ' surmount all difficul- 
 ties,' and be ultimately crowned with success. As 
 the summit of one high mountain was reached, 
 there was always another beyond it, and that, too, 
 must be ascended before they could hope to obtain 
 a view of what the}- expected - the table-land, and
 
 76 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 descend upon the prairies, where the settlers were 
 all bus}' with their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, 
 accumulating riches rapidly. About two weeks had 
 been expended in the vain attempt to cross the 
 range of mountains, \\hich thc}^ could have done in 
 three or four days by following the marked tree- 
 line. They were unceasingly the victims of a 
 delusion in imagining that they must be near a 
 homestead, from the beautiful green swards of grass, 
 newly sprung up, the ground swept clean as with a 
 broom, from recent bush-fires which had covered 
 it, resembling the lawn before a gentleman's 
 dwelling, whilst they mistook the rocks glistening 
 in the sun in certain places for houses and castles. 
 Smith and Robinson were sure — ' quite certain,' 
 they said — that they saw a man, sometimes a 
 woman, carrying a child. It was a mere illusion ; 
 but they could not help going to these rocks, 
 and much time and labour were expended in 
 this way, to the great fatigue of both themselves 
 and their horses. At last painful misgivings began 
 to come over their minds, though they did not say 
 anything to each other, that they had been too 
 venturesome. They had heard of persons being 
 lost in Australia and never heard of, and this, too, 
 might be their lot. They helped to cheer one 
 another, however, but their lijxs did not speak A\hat 
 the heart felt. Their horses were greatly fatigued, 
 as they had lost some of their shoes, and were 
 crippling ; and they themselves were compelled to 
 walk on foot nearly all day under the sweltering 
 heat of the mid-day sun. Their clothes were very
 
 PIONEERING 77 
 
 much torn in i^oing through brushwood and under 
 branches of trees their feet latterly became 
 blistered and swollen, and as their calf-leather 
 boots could not be put on again when taken off, by 
 bandaging their feet with strips of cloth they 
 travelled with greater freedom and less pain. 
 Indeed, few persons could have shown so much 
 power of endurance, and they really proved them- 
 selves to be stout-hearted fellows, to whom every 
 praise was due, despite their foolhardiness. There 
 was one thing a very great danger which they 
 did not understand or anticipate — their minds were 
 apt to become as weak as their bodies, and to be 
 incapable of comprehending the seriousness of their 
 situation, and of devising a means of escape. Once 
 a cloud, like a shadow of death, came cner them ; 
 it might be called, indeed, a cloud of ignorance, 
 with all its attendant miseries, ruin, desolation, 
 death, like some palpable object which their heads 
 might touch. In the labyrinth of stupendously- 
 high mountains, separated by yawning gulfs, they 
 approached the brink of a precipice, which was 
 concealed from their view by saplings and bushes. 
 The pack-horse lost its footing, rolled down, down 
 to the abyss beneath, and with it all hopes of sus- 
 taining themselves — ' lost, all lost, quite lost ! ' It 
 was a moment of dreadful agony ; their hearts 
 departed from them ; their feet were slipping — 
 another instant and they anticipated rolling down 
 after the pack-horse. Quick as lightning Brown 
 called to Smith and Robinson, ' Hold the horses fast 
 by the heads ; ' the reins of the bridle the}- had been
 
 78 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 holding, loose, and dangling in their hands. Fear 
 was comn:iunicatcd to the horses by the sudden 
 hold laid on them, and they dragged their blind 
 guides from the dangerous ground. Brothers in 
 adversity, they wisely avoided any altercation ; they 
 slowly retraced their steps, intending to follow the 
 water up, quite contrary to the great bush- directory, 
 to follow the water down. When lost, it was a 
 most hazardous task to ascertain the direction in 
 which the water was running. Smith, at one place, 
 took off his Glengarry bonnet and threw it into 
 the stream ; it was soon out of sight, and he lost 
 it. Robinson quietly remarked to him that he 
 might have thrown a bit of a branch instead, and 
 kept his Glengarry. It was impossible to tread in 
 the face of almost perpendicular mountains, which 
 wound round and round both sides of the stream 
 like the letter £-. Their perseverance and deter- 
 mination had their reward in one sense, by satisfying 
 their minds that they were, as they thought, always 
 ascending higher ; but their mistake was taught 
 them in a very startling fashion. The gnawings of 
 hunger had compelled them to kill one of their 
 horses ; they set out next morning with a portion 
 of the horse-flesh, with as much as they thought 
 would suffice before reaching the station on the 
 high table-land, which they were told they would 
 come to after crossing the mountains. They toiled 
 on, travelling where travelling was possible, and 
 coming always nearer, as they supposed to their 
 destination ; when all at once, and to their utter
 
 PIONEERING 79 
 
 confusion and consternation, they came to the very 
 phice w here they had been several days before ! 
 There could be no doubt about it whatever : there 
 was the dead horse, with the lari^c gashes in its 
 haunches, where they had been cutting out steaks. 
 They all looked on in mute amazement, staring at 
 the dead horse as if it had been a grave newly dug 
 for their interment. For some time they could 
 not avoid thinking that they were in some en- 
 chanted country, and were the sport of the weird 
 sisters of the forest. Brown at last said he knew 
 how it was — they had been travelling in a circle; 
 Smith and Robinson nodded assent. Their knees 
 bent beneath the weight of their bodies, and borne 
 down by their accumulated load of anguish, sorrow', 
 and disappointment, they all sank like dead men 
 to the ground. They said that they had a compass, 
 but that they did not know how to use it. How 
 they ultimately succeeded in getting out of the 
 mountains, where they had been shut up for nearly 
 six weeks, they could not very well explain. 
 Desperation, a last effort for life, had supplied them 
 with almost superhuman courage and strength ; 
 leaving their horses' saddles, and ever}'thing that 
 was burdensome to carry, they had .set out on foot, 
 keeping close to the stream, and following it to 
 its source, subsisted on kangaroo-rats, having 
 already acquired so much knowledge of life in the 
 bush as enabled them to cater for food without 
 going to the very extreme — killing a horse. Most 
 providentially, they came to a shepherd's hut at the
 
 So AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 side of the stream wliich tliey had so persistently 
 followed. An old convict who was in charge of" 
 the hut made some tea for them, and afterwards 
 conducted them to the head-station, where they 
 were most kindly treated by the owner. They 
 gradually recruited their strength, and in a few 
 weeks, after being refitted, were enabled to make 
 another start ; this time largely benefited, one 
 would very naturally suppose, by their experience. 
 The necessity of using greater caution in their 
 future endeavours, snakes even, upon which they 
 were always in danger of trampling, might have 
 taught them. In crossing a high range of moun- 
 tains, out of reach of the coast-line, and debouch- 
 ing into the interior, there was a magnificent 
 view presented to them of the vast, boundless 
 expanse of territory lying stretched out before them 
 like a scene on the canvas of a panorama. 
 ' Links, links,' said Smith, being put in mind of 
 the irregular mounds of sand or downs which he 
 had seen on the sea-coast of his native country ; 
 not a plain to be seen — the whole country covered 
 with trees, except a few white specks that looked 
 like lakes, but which they afterwards discovered 
 were places where there were no trees. Their path 
 seemed now very plain and easy. The country 
 was now being occupied, and there was nothing for 
 them to do but to proceed down the course of some 
 of the rivers or creeks, until they came to where 
 the last station was taken up. 
 
 They had now come to one of life's great 
 turning-points, when all the issues of the future
 
 PIOXEERIXr, 8i 
 
 seemed as if dcpciulcnt on the first step. They 
 were ignorant of a great number of things, and 
 these they could never hope to learn from mere 
 hearsay; none of them could make damper, salt a 
 bullock, shoe a horse, or handle an adze ; and they 
 could not tell men as ignorant as themselv^es how 
 to do those things. The>' did not know good 
 grazing country from bad — knew nothing of the 
 modes of management. ' Divide and conquer,' and 
 divide and be conquered. Thc}- separated, and 
 went through a course of colonial experience 
 which they ought never to have learned. Had 
 they remained together — in other words, remained 
 true and faithful to themselves — enjoying each 
 other's society, deriving mutual support, counten- 
 ance, and encouragement, they would have supplied 
 in a large measure the deficiencies under which 
 they were all labouring, and made themselves 
 masters of the situation. They are now all dead. 
 Brown and Smith's tale is very soon told. They 
 were unfortunate, to begin w ith, in a selection 
 of bad country, taking up land that had been ' 
 passed b}- others. There were expenses connected 
 with the starting of a station for which they were 
 altogether unprepared, and never anticipated. 
 Money is easily borrowed from merchants upon 
 security of stock and station at exorbitant rates of 
 interest — 15 and 20 per cent. ; indeed, as high as 
 25 per cent, has been mentioned, and prevails 
 to an enormous extent. The\' never could get 
 themselves out of the hands of the merchants, from 
 whom they were obliged to receive their supplies 
 
 G
 
 S2 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 for the station — another large item of merchants' 
 profits. ' There is no friendship in business,' so 
 passes the mercantile axiom, though there will be 
 always found a great deal of apparent friendship 
 in the forming of business connections. Brown 
 had a lot of maiden ewes which, if he had been 
 permitted to keep (as he said to the writer, in a 
 long winter night when he was staying at his 
 homestead, and listening to the tale of his adven- 
 tures), he would have got out of the merchant's 
 hands. They must be sold, however, as the 
 merchant wanted the money in payment of long 
 outstanding arrears. 
 
 Notwithstanding the scrambling nature of the 
 occupation of searching for and finding out ' runs,' 
 and the great jealousy which arises in observing 
 others who are more fortunate, in occasionally, it 
 may be, finding a superior class of country and 
 holding possession of a large tract of it, the 
 greatest favour and kindness are alwavs manifested 
 to ' new arrivals.' Neighbourhood is valuable, 
 affording as it docs the advantages of society, of 
 co-operation, and of greater security against the 
 aborigines ; and no complaint has been heard of 
 the first occupants having failed to assist by 
 counsel and a generous hospitality those who have 
 followed in their wake. Their lands are quite 
 secure, the boundaries well defined, and registered 
 in the archives of the Crown Land Office ; and a 
 right is granted or conceded to the land in occupa- 
 tion almost equal to purchase in fee simple. They 
 cannot suffer, therefore, in any way from others
 
 PIOXEERIXr, 83 
 
 following" in search of land. Difficulties have 
 sometimes arisen, however, from the uneven extent 
 of country which may have been in possession of 
 one individual, and from the difficulty of not 
 knowing what was altogether included in it. An 
 amusing incident was told to the writer by one 
 who has gained for himself a name of great and, 
 indeed, of universal renown as an explorer. In 
 searching for a run he at last came upon a fine 
 district, and set to work, with a black fellow who 
 always bore him company, marking out his 
 boundaries by making marks on the trees with a 
 tomahawk as he went along, describing in this 
 way the large domain he proposed appropriating 
 to himself as the right of his discovery. It was 
 like travelling round a large English or Scottish 
 county, and some days were occupied in this pre- 
 liminary but necessary work. Suddenly, however, 
 he came upon a comfortable homestead ; and he 
 found that the district had been formerly occupied : 
 so that all his labour, zeal, and fervent hopes were 
 instantly dashed to the ground. He had com- 
 menced his Australian career with a flock of sheep, 
 placed in bad grazing country ; they all died, and 
 at the time of which we write he had fallen into a 
 singular ' line of business ' — that of finding new 
 country, and selling his right of discovery to 
 others. The Government of Queensland has very 
 wisely imposed a check on this practice, by not 
 recognising any individual right unless the dis- 
 coverer is in occupation, and the country or ' run ' 
 is stocked to the extent of one-fourth of the sheep
 
 84 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 or cattle which it is estimated to carry. Matters 
 in regard to the ' searching for runs,' as now going 
 on in Queensland, Northern Australia, and the 
 unoccupied territory of South Australia, were 
 much in the same state in New South Wales at 
 the period of Brown, Smith, and Robinson's arrival 
 in the last-mentioned colony ; and some of the 
 incidents contained in their narrative are not 
 without instruction and guidance for intending 
 emigrants and settlers. Robinson was very fortu- 
 nate, indeed, in the land which he had taken up, 
 and for this he was mainly indebted to the, advice 
 of an overseer of a station, with whom he had been 
 acquainted at home ; indeed, he had learned all 
 the usual routine and many important lessons 
 from that overseer. A melancholy interest sur- 
 rounds the closing scenes of his life, the truth 
 of which was vouched for to the writer by a 
 gentleman well acquainted with him ; and it may 
 not be without interest to the reader. There 
 was an object to him of far greater concern than 
 his wide domain, and the multiplied wealth which 
 his annually increasing flocks were ever hastening 
 upon him — one that he loved above all, even more 
 than himself. It was for her to whom he had been 
 betrothed in his fatherland that he was treading, 
 with unwearying care, and unbending resolution, 
 the steps in the ladder that were to conduct him to 
 future wealth and independence. His betrothed 
 was to him an object above all earthly value : he 
 could not honour her too much ; he could not 
 suffer too m.uch for her. Like some presiding
 
 PIONEERING 85 
 
 earthly divinit}-. it mit^ht be trul)' said that it 
 was her eyes and mind that were attendiiv^ all 
 the unnumbered cares and duties in his strivin^^ 
 and industrious life. There was a foe which 
 his unsuspecting nature never dreaded ; he had 
 received as a guest, and most hospitably enter- 
 tained in all the frankness of unreserved friend- 
 ship, one who was very soon to visit his native 
 hills. A word ! what may a word not do ? what 
 has a word not done ? How many have writhed 
 in agony from a word — their hopes, once like 
 summer blossoms, drooping, languishing, dying, 
 under the blighting curse of a word, leaving them 
 to be cast like ' loathsome weeds away' ! ' By thy 
 words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words 
 thou shalt be condemned.' Think of this, ye 
 slanderers — think of it with all its deep, all its 
 everlasting significance. ' The power of life and 
 death is in the tongue.' Robinson's treacherous 
 friend, as if on some fiendish errand, whispered 
 into the ears of his betrothed that he was a 
 drunkard. The poisoned arrow festered in her 
 heart, and she wrote that she would not be married 
 to him. The world was no longer to him what it 
 had been ; in an evil hour he hastened his departure 
 from it, antl was numbered with the dead. Under 
 the shade of an iron-bark tree, not far from the 
 wool-shed, there .still remain the letters of his 
 name carved out in a block of wood, marking the 
 place of his interment. Many years after his 
 death the station which he had formed, and fully 
 stocked, was valued at si.xty thousand pounds.
 
 86 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 The aborigines of Australia are fast melting 
 away, and continue to disappear rapidly before 
 British settlers. The blankets supplied to them 
 by the Colonial Governments, with the sugar, 
 flour, meat, and clothing which they occasionally 
 receive from settlers, in payment of such services 
 as stripping bark from trees, carrying water and 
 firewood, would seem to act as so many destructive 
 agencies, by enervating and debilitating their con- 
 stitutions and hastening their decline. In districts 
 where they might have been seen at one time 
 roaming about in numbers of ten, twenty, or forty, 
 there is now rarely one to be seen ; and the 
 expression is not unfrequently heard : ' Where 
 have they all gone to ? ' Not one of the aborigines 
 of Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), where they 
 were at one time very numerous, now remains, and 
 the same tale will soon be told of the aborigines 
 of Australia. Every part of country has its dis- 
 tinct tribe of aborigines, or blacks, as they are 
 almost invariably called, belonging to it ; and 
 when far distant it is found that they do not 
 understand the language of each other. In dis- 
 tricts long settled these tribes have almost entirely 
 died out, and nought may be found remaining of 
 them save at some settler's homestead, in the form 
 of some decrepid old man, or gin, or both ; bearing 
 so very little trace of the human figure and the 
 lineaments of the human countenance that they 
 might be very readily trampled upon by the horses' 
 feet, and be mistaken for cast-off black wearing 
 apparel, or black oil-skin cloth. Numbers of them,
 
 PIONEERING 87 
 
 old and youn^j^, ma)' be very frequently seen 
 huddled together beside a small fire, which they ha\c 
 kindled near a settler's homestead, all in a most 
 torpid state, from havinsr oor<;ed themselves with 
 food after a lone;' fast. There is no lack of atten- 
 tion and the offices of humanity shown them by 
 the settlers. If the ni^ht is cold, the)' will receive 
 any quantit)' of clothint^ ; but as soon as the 
 sun rises and they feel warm, the clothing is 
 thrown aside and forgotten. They generally keep 
 their blankets in winter ; and the gins, or females, 
 are rarely without an opossum cloak. When 
 emploj'-ed at a station, both men and women 
 are always clad in English clothing. The)' 
 will not remain long at one place — the\' must 
 be alwa)'s roaming about ; indeed, their wild 
 nature would seem to be altogether invincible, 
 unless when they are taken young, and inured to 
 the habits of civilised life, and even then they arc 
 ahvays ready to burst their bonds. The writer saw 
 a black boy whose portrait appeared in a number of 
 the ' Illustrated London News,' he having been 
 taken to England by Mr. Geddes, of Warialda, an 
 old and respected colonist and pioneer ; but no 
 sooner had the black boy returned to his nati\e 
 encampment than he threw off every article of 
 clothing he had upon him, and fled into the bush, 
 seemingly as delighted as a bird escaping out of a 
 cage. 
 
 The native police, or ' black trackers,' as they 
 are sometimes called, are a bod)' of aborigines 
 trained to act as policemen, ser\'ing under a white
 
 88 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 commandant — a very clever expedient for coping 
 with the difficulty, which appeared almost insur- 
 mountable, of hunting" down and discovering 
 murderous blacks and others guilty of spearing 
 cattle and breaking into huts. There is never any 
 friendly feeling subsisting between one tribe of 
 blacks and another ; they are very often at war, 
 and blacks taken from other tribes, usually far 
 distant, will heartily enter into a scheme of pur- 
 suing other blacks and bringing them to justice. 
 Consequently the native police were the v^ery men 
 wanted — in accordance with the old adage of ' Set 
 a thief to catch a thief When a black is once 
 put upon the track of others, he will follow it up 
 like a bloodhound, until he comes upon the object 
 of his search — not by the sense of smell, but by 
 the astonishing power of sight, by minute obser- 
 vation of the impressions left on the ground of the 
 footsteps of those on whose tracks he has been 
 directed to follow. Native police, or black trackers, 
 are never heard of except in districts where the 
 blacks are troublesome — that is, in newly-settled 
 districts. They are all in the pay of Government, 
 are taught the use of fire-arms, and are clad in 
 uniform like other police officials. They are first- 
 rate horsemen, and take great pride in their gay, 
 .soldierly appearance and high position. 
 
 The nude, houseless aborigines of Australia 
 present a striking contrast to the aborigines, or 
 Maoris, of New Zealand. Climate will explain the 
 cause of the different types of character of many 
 things on the earth's surface, but the great differ-
 
 PIONEERIXr. 89 
 
 cncc in the climate of New Zealand and Australia 
 will not explain the difference in the character of 
 the native races of the two countries. The New 
 Zcalanders have sprung from an entirely different 
 stock of the human family. The aborigines of 
 Australia are jet black, have strong, coarse black 
 hair, a slim build, and not much muscular strength. 
 The New Zealanders are of a brown, tawny com- 
 plexion, and have also black hair, but not so coarse 
 and strong. Their bodily frame is well developed 
 — each one seeming tall and muscular, and they 
 have finely-formed features. They have pahs, or 
 villages, in which they reside, though these seem 
 at a distance little better than a large motley 
 collection of thatched pigsties ; and the first 
 impression of them is not much improved on 
 approaching nearer and examining them — a 
 stockade formed of trunks of trees, sunk in the 
 ground, and close to each other, usually surround- 
 ing them. They are most industrious, cultivate 
 the soil, and are acutely alive to the advantages 
 of European civilisation. Many of them acquire 
 wealth, and have saw-mills, flour-mills, and small 
 vessels ; but in trading, however, tliey always bear 
 the character of being frightfully avaricious ; they 
 cannot endure to see others gaining anything that 
 they think they might possess themselves ; hence 
 their jealousy of the English colonists and the 
 wretched New Zealand wars. Marriages are not 
 of un frequent occurrence between Europeans and 
 Maori women, and the children by these marriages 
 arc generally good-looking. A German with
 
 90 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 whom I met in the northern island was married 
 to one, and he said that he had found no cause 
 to regret it. Their children were receiving the 
 best education which the town of Wellington 
 could afford. He had fifty Maoris employed as 
 servants. The New Zealanders are said to be partial 
 to these marriage connections with the Pakehas or 
 Europeans ; and half-castes are numerous — chiefly 
 the progeny of old whalers, runaway sailors, and 
 convicts. In a rambling tour, the writer having 
 entered one of these settlers' houses, agreeably to 
 the invitation of the owner, found the Maori wife 
 the very paragon of excellence as an active, 
 bustling, thorough-going housewife, whilst the 
 house was well provided with all the usual domestic 
 comforts. Their children were attended to in 
 their education, along with Maori children, by a 
 missionary. The man, an old whaler, deeply 
 lamented the misfortunes which he had suffered 
 from English settlement, as he had been formerly 
 doing a brisk trade with the natives, and with 
 vessels off the coast. All this, however, was now at 
 an end. The following incident is worth relating, 
 as an illustration of the presence of mind and 
 .shrewdness of the Maoris ; and in this case of a 
 Maori woman. A ship, in which the writer was a 
 passenger, having arrived in the harbour of one of 
 the settlements, a number of New Zealanders came 
 in their canoes alongside, for the purpose of selling 
 fish, potatoes, and fowls, which they had brought 
 with them. In the midst of a great deal of haggling 
 between them and the mate of the vessel, as to the
 
 PIONEERING 91 
 
 price of their commodities (the)- arc hard, ' LjTippincj ' 
 persons to do business with), a Maori woman, with 
 the usual mat on her shoulders, hair floatin<r in the 
 breeze, and (Otherwise very sparingly clad, took it 
 into her head to clamber up the ship's side. There 
 was no objection to this. On reaching the deck of 
 the vessel she stood erect as a statue, in no way 
 abashed ; and commenced walking about with an 
 amount of ease and dignity which would have 
 graced a princess. After satisfying her eyes with 
 all that was to be seen, she came boldly up to a 
 lad}' who stood behind me, and entered into con- 
 versation with her ; some of her words were 
 English ; and her meaning could be understood. 
 At last she put the question, ' What kind of 
 country yours .-' ' The lady had come from Edin- 
 burgh, and commenced describing, by pointing to 
 the windows of the ship's cabin, the fine houses, 
 riches, and splendour of the city of Edinburgh. 
 The Maori woman listened very thoughtfully and 
 attentively to all that was said, and, with great 
 amazement in her face, replied, ' And what brought 
 you here ? ' It was a poser. The Scottish lady 
 gave an answer, but a very unsatisfactory one, 
 which must have confused the New Zealand 
 woman's mind more and more, as to a people who 
 had such a good country of their-. own •:o3T(U!g to 
 theirs, probably to take their -coiintry from them. 
 
 Their susceptibility to religious, .impressions 
 and their attachment to the outward observauce- of 
 religion are ver}' remarkable. More strict observer.^ 
 of the Sabbath could not have been-folmd anywhere
 
 92 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 than at a pah at which I was present on a Sabbath. 
 One native dccHncd to speak to me, pointing with 
 his finger towards the sky, and saying it was 
 Sabbath. In acting thus he was following the 
 injunctions understood to have been given by the 
 missionaries to avoid intercourse with Europeans 
 on the Sabbath. There is a wild, magnificent 
 beauty to be met with in many parts of New 
 Zealand. This Maori settlement was one of these 
 places. It was beside a large bay, having a narrow 
 entrance into the ocean, a strip of flax and fern 
 land skirted it on one side, sloping from the base 
 of a very large and high mountain, which was clad 
 to the very summit with dense, dark, impenetrable 
 forest, and communicated to the mind an impression 
 of great strength and protection ; whilst a feeling 
 of awe and solemnity seemed to hang over the 
 Maoris, nestled at its foot, and engaged in the 
 pursuits of peaceful industry. There were patches 
 of cultivation scattered everywhere about, inter- 
 spersed b)- small streams of water, pure as crystal, 
 proceeding from the bendings of the mountain. It 
 was Sabbath, and some of the Maoris had come 
 considerable distances on horseback to attend 
 divine service. There was as much commotion as 
 at a fair during the early part of the da}-. The 
 qiCaf-rdKng •, oi -dogs and pigs, which had accom- 
 panied ^omfc' of f.bbm, was very great, and there 
 \vAf> no small ado' in establishing order amongst 
 those unlUv^y an'iiiials. There was a neat church 
 ■and .belfry, which the Maoris had erected at their 
 ''owtT'ex;peri5fc'. ' 'Th'e church was not used, however.
 
 noxEERixr, 93 
 
 as it was a day of beautiful ^un>hinc, and they 
 preferred squatting themselves on a grassy knoll 
 beside it. There were '}-oung men and maidens, 
 old men and children,' all wending their way 
 to the house of God. All the old men were 
 tattooed, and some of them had frightful visages : 
 none of the young men were tattooed, however, as 
 the practice had been discontinued through the 
 influence of their Christian teachers. There were 
 many clothed with their native mats — others partly 
 clad in English clothing ; and some of the half- 
 caste females were attired in the latest style of 
 fashion. Ouietl}', one by one, and without a 
 sound or whisper, they arranged themselves in 
 circles on the grassy knoll — the men and the 
 women dividing. They had not all sat on the 
 ground when there commenced, in all the ' stillness 
 of Sabbath morn,' the tolling of the Sabbath bell. 
 How strange the sound of that bell seemed to me 
 in that place, calling to church such an assem- 
 blage of Christian worshippers ! The greatest 
 extremes in the world — the highest civilisation and 
 barbarism — seemed suddenly to meet and close 
 in harmony ; the Christian brotherhood of men 
 asserting itself independently of all earthly dis- 
 tinctions. The hidden si)rings of action and 
 motives to conduct are far beyond the reach of 
 mortal eye. It is God that searchcth the heart — 
 man looketh on the outward appearance ; but one 
 might have travelled over all Christendom, and 
 have not seen a more devout demeanour in a 
 large body of Christian worshippers on a Sabbath-
 
 94 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 day. They all appeared as if spellbound, and 
 under the shadow of a great overawing power — in 
 the actual presence of the Supreme— as indeed they 
 were.- They had been under the ministry of a 
 Wesleyan Methodist missionary, but, as he had 
 many places to attend to, he was absent on this 
 occasion, and his place was filled by a native 
 teacher, who conducted the services in the Maori 
 language. 
 
 Pioneering and the searching for ' runs ' have 
 prevailed in New Zealand as in Australia, more 
 especially in the southern or middle island — that 
 part of New Zealand in which the provinces of 
 Southland, Otago, Canterbury, and Nelson are 
 situated. The natives there are not numerous, 
 and there is no hostility to be dreaded from them. 
 Graziers are not given to complaining ; they have 
 the use and benefit of the land, are not required 
 to purchase it ; indeed, they are not permitted to 
 purchase, though this has occurred sometimes, 
 so that a family, all things considered, with a 
 few cows and plenty of pasturage, might not find 
 much ground for complaint in New Zealand. If 
 there are no native dogs in New Zealand, there are 
 not wanting wild, ravenous animals. I heard one 
 grazier state that his brother killed, wath his rifle, 
 fifteen hundred wild pigs in one year. They had 
 destroyed nearly all his lambs. There was no use 
 made of the dead pigs, and they were left to rot 
 on the ground where they were killed. In their 
 wild state they do not appear to fatten. There are 
 dogs bred for the purpose of catching them, called
 
 PIOXEERI NG 95 
 
 ' pig do£,rs.' Some have adopted a clcxcr method 
 of clearing their cultivated land <jf fern roots, which 
 are very difficult to get rid of, by folding pigs on 
 the land and leaving them nothing to eat but the 
 fern roots. 
 
 If a rebellion had broken out amc)ng the natives 
 of Australia, two or three ounces of gunpowder 
 would have been amply sufficient, and far more effec- 
 tual than the two or three millions of good sterling 
 English money which has been expended in the 
 endeavour to suppress the rebellion of the natives 
 in the northern island of New Zealand — that part 
 of New Zealand in which Auckland, Wellington, 
 Taranaki, or New Plymouth, are situated. The 
 different tribes of natives in New Zealand, it 
 appears, do not agree any more than the different 
 tribes of natives in Australia. A chief of a tribe 
 sells his land to the Government, at Auckland ; 
 there arc other chiefs opposed to the selling of land, 
 and they fall upon the chief who has sold his land 
 and kill him and his men. The British authorities 
 do not interfere, and bring the murderers to justice. 
 ' This won't do,' say some of the more intelligent 
 native chiefs ; ' let Queen Victoria rule Jier people, 
 and let us have a Maori king to rule our people.' 
 ' Mistaken clemency is at the bottom of all our 
 troubles in New Zealand,' says the Reverend S. 
 Ironside, at the head of the Wesleyan Mission, 
 twenty years a missionary amongst the natives, and 
 personally acquainted with the rebellious chiefs, 
 in a lecture on New Zealand, delivered and 
 published in Sydney by Mr. Ironside — a copy of
 
 96 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 which he [)iesentcd to the writer. The following 
 remarks made are not without interest, being 
 written from personal observation. ' The north 
 island is mainly a system of mountains and valleys. 
 A rugged mountain range runs down the centre, 
 mostly covered with dense bush, scrub, and creep- 
 ing vine, up to its very summit, with two or three 
 snowy peaks lifting up their hoary heads to the 
 skv. This range sends out its spurs either way 
 towards the coast, sometimes abruptly abutting on 
 the shore, with valleys of the finest agricultural 
 land, a rich black loam, several feet in depth, 
 between them, through which a never-failing stream 
 of the purest water merrily sings on its way to the 
 ocean. These streamlets abound everywhere. In 
 the inland forests and hills nature has provided 
 for the traveller a good substitute for ladders in 
 climbing, in the roots of the large trees spread 
 along the surface of the ground, while the clinging 
 vine not unfrequently furnishes a capital hand- 
 rail. But, at best, the getting over the ground 
 is slow, heavy, wearisome work. Through the 
 whole extent of the country you may travel every- 
 where without fear of sting or bite, for there is no 
 ravenous beast, no venomous reptile, to be found. 
 There are materials for a very comfortable bivouac. 
 Wood and water for the fire and for cooking, 
 leaves and fern for your couch, and you may 
 speedily replenish your stock of provisions from 
 the neighbouring stream or bush. The rivers and 
 seaboard are well stocked with fish, from the 
 magnificent hapuka, or rock cod, through all the
 
 PIONEER I NT, 97 
 
 varieties down iu Uic ijiluiicin, or delicate lairijjrey. 
 I remember once, when voyaging in the mission 
 boat, in Cook's Straits, my natives, with rude 
 appliances, in about two hours, loaded the boat far 
 more deepl}' than \\\'is desirable with baraco(;ta. 
 Then the forests, lakes, and rivers equal!)' aboimd 
 with feathered game, such as the kupuka, the kaka, 
 the weka, the patangitangi. There arc, moreover, 
 the fern root, the mamuka, and other edible and 
 succulent roots, and stems of native plants, from 
 which in former times the natives derived a large 
 portion of their subsistence. I think, therefore, 
 that the rebellious natives are not to be readily 
 starved into submission. They can live in com- 
 paratixe abundance in their native country, where 
 a white man would starve. The best harbours on 
 the coast have the least quantity of available land 
 in their neighbourhood, as they are mostly hemmed 
 in by high and rugged forest-clad mountains, 
 rendering great outlay necessar}' in order to open 
 up the country, w^hile the finest plains and valle3's, 
 with hundreds of thousands of acres of rich and 
 fertile soil, are without harbours at all — either an 
 indifferent roadstead, like Taranaki, or a ri\'cr with 
 a frightful sandbar stretching across its mouth. 
 The rivers and harbours on the west coast have 
 all their .sandbars at the heads. The prevailing 
 westerly wind, meeting the current coming out of 
 the river, raises a bar across the mouth, on which 
 even in comparatively fine weather the sea some- 
 times breaks with awful fury. 
 
 ' The middle island differs materially in its 
 
 II
 
 98 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 general features from the northern. There is a 
 rugged mountain range, a great part of which is 
 above the snow Hne, running down the island, from 
 north-east to north-west, but through the whole 
 distance it runs nearly along the western coast ; its 
 spurs run right down to the coast line, and deep 
 blue water runs between them right up to the bases 
 of the lofty hills, very much like the fiords of 
 Norway, I should imagine. There are no sound- 
 ings in some of the inlets — you might take the 
 " Campania " and moor her to the stateh' forest 
 trees on the precipitous shore. The east side of 
 the island presents the fine spectacle of splendid 
 rolling prairies of rich natural grasses, varying in 
 width from fifty to seventy and, in some places, 
 one hundred miles, to the foot of the western range. 
 This grassy land, I am told, will carry in its wild 
 state one sheep to the acre ; in some places more 
 than this. These plains are as fine an agricul- 
 tural and pastoral country as is to be found in 
 the world. There are few natives on the island 
 — not more than five thousand altogether. The 
 climate is too cold for them, and the former 
 cannibal raids of the northern tribes have greatly 
 diminished the few residents. The settlers of the 
 five provinces, into which the island is divided, have 
 a glorious future before them. They have no fear 
 of war with the natives ; they are only just near 
 enough to hear the bursting of the storm. Every- 
 thing there is fair and flourishing. Many useful 
 and valuable minerals only wait the necessary 
 capital for their development. To say nothing of
 
 FIONKEKINC 99 
 
 the L^old-ficlds, there are copper, chrome, iron, 
 plumbago, coal in abundance ; and I quite expect 
 that marvellous thout;h the past of that island has 
 been, its future will be more so. 
 
 ' They have derived great benefits from ci\ili- 
 sation. Their implements for husbandry, and for 
 building their houses and canoes, were of the rudest 
 description. It must have cost them weeks of 
 patient labour to bring down a forest tree with their 
 rude stone axe, of some six inches long and two or 
 three inches broad, with a vcr}- blunt edge. Their 
 dress was composed of flax mats of various degrees 
 of fineness. I have seen Kaitaka mats of such a 
 fine and beautiful texture, worked by native women, 
 that they would grace the form of the loveliest of 
 her sex. But all these things are passing away- 
 Being well supplied with Euroi)ean tools and 
 wearing apparel, their own rude substitutes are 
 thrown aside. The Maori is very imitative ; he 
 soon knows how to use the tools of civilisation. 
 There is nothing in husbandry, or in the me- 
 chanical arts, that a native will not acquire, and in 
 some instances he will surpass his teacher. PI is 
 ingenuity in discovering means of increasing his 
 ammunition during the wars was a marvel to the 
 civilised soldier. Marble, copper tokens broken up 
 into slugs, and other hard substances, serve him 
 in the place of lead ; while the exploded percussion- 
 cap is made to serve over and over again, by put- 
 ting in the phosphorised head of a vesta. 
 
 ' Ever since I have known the Maoris, their 
 
 H 2
 
 loo AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 numbers heivc been rapidly diminishing. Year by 
 year, the decrease is greater. In one valley I re- 
 member, twenty-four years ago, with at least one 
 thousand souls living there, not more than three 
 hundred could now be found. A large proportion 
 of the population is adult ; in a careful census of 
 the people of the district under my charge some 
 years ago, I found five hundred men, three hundred 
 and sevent}'-five women, and about two hundred 
 and fifty children ; and from late inquiries it would 
 appear that a like proportion obtains all over the 
 country. If an epidemic visits the country, it 
 makes fearful ravages among the poor natives — 
 the measles having destroyed hundreds of the 
 people. 
 
 ' I wish, with all my heart, they could have been 
 preserved as a race. I hope the remnant may. 
 But "the Lord reigneth." His purpose in placing 
 man on the earth was that he should " be fruitful 
 and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue 
 it." The poor Maori could not do this, and would 
 not allow others to do it for him, so he is passing 
 away. Noble efforts have been made by the British 
 Government, by Christian missionaries, and by 
 high-minded philanthropists to serve him, and they 
 have been so far a comparative failure. I cannot 
 but grieve deeply over this untoward result. But 
 those beautiful and fertile islands will be the home 
 of a healthy, happy, prosperous community — I 
 hope a truly Christian one — and the remnant of 
 the native race will blend among the descendants 
 of our own people. If the dream of Macaulay
 
 PICNEERINC. loi 
 
 about the future is to be realised, and a New 
 Zcalandcr in the coming age seats himself on the 
 broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins 
 of St. Paul's Cathedral, it is likely he will be an 
 Anglo New Zealander.'
 
 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 SQUATTING 
 
 Rapid Appropriation of Territory — Squattage Right — Runs and 
 Blocks — Laws affecting Grazing — Value of Stations — Gold 
 Discovery — Unstocked Runs — Weeds — Sheep Scab — Farm 
 Servants— House Accommodation — Cattle and Sheep Stations 
 — Schoolmasters and Physicians — Founding of Townships — 
 Camp Followers — Squattage Homes — Land and Land Legisla- 
 tion — Absenteeism and Resident Squatters. 
 
 A RIVER overflowing and bursting its embank- 
 ments, rushing onwards, and spreading itself out 
 in all directions, may serve as an illustration of the 
 advancing waves of population, and the mode of 
 occupation of all the known territory of Australia. 
 It has been owing to the enterprise of private 
 individuals, and not to any action on the part of 
 Government, that the land has been taken posses- 
 sion of and occupied. Government, with its tape 
 and measuring-line, has been completely distanced, 
 and left helpless. Be it right or be it wrong, there 
 it is — the stupendous system, the great Australian 
 fact — occupation of the land, and all the use 
 and benefit of the land, without purchase. This 
 great fact is one that never requires to be men- 
 tioned, as people will always be found ready
 
 SQUATTIXr. 103 
 
 enough, and in sufficient numbers, to embark in 
 schemes which promise extraordinary returns or 
 wealth, and it requires no bounty or inducement of 
 any kind to assist and encourage them. On the 
 occasion of the gold discovery no step whatever 
 was necessary on the part of the Government to 
 induce the people to go gold-digging, and there 
 have always been found plenty of persons ready to 
 occupy the land on the very favourable terms 
 which have been offered. The great natural 
 wealth of the country spread over the surface, 
 its adaptability to the grazing of sheep and cattle, 
 and the great facilit}' of transit were inducements 
 of no ordinary character in the race for riches 
 to stimulate to acquisition and possession. The 
 problem of the sudden rise and prosperity', and the 
 remarkabh' rapid extension of occupation and 
 settlement of the Australian colonies, is thus very 
 easily solved. It is easy to point out some of 
 the great public material ach'antages of squatting. 
 .All the natural wealth of the country is instantly 
 reaped, and made as available as a field of ripe 
 wheat and barle\-, whilst employment is provided 
 for a great number of people. The occupiers of 
 the land — that class of the community called 
 squatters or Crozvn tenants — not being required to 
 purchase the land of which the}- hold possession, 
 they enjoy the full use and benefit of every 
 farthing of their capital ; and it has been this 
 extraordinary encouragement to capital which has 
 made Australia become what it is ; it caused it to be 
 opened up, brought commerce and population to
 
 I04 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 its shores, and provided employment for hundreds 
 and tliousands of famishing emigrants from the 
 British Isles. It is not to be forgotten that the 
 first settlers were not required to purchase land, as 
 they secured grants of territory from the Governor 
 in consideration of their employing convicts, whose 
 labour they secured free. The foundation was 
 thus laid at the very commencement of Australian 
 settlement of a plan of colonisation which attracted 
 emigrants by thej.encouragement which was given 
 to capital, and that encouragement has prevailed 
 ever since, and has thus led to the settlement 
 of every known part of the continent. Money ! 
 money ! An ass laden with gold has been known 
 to enter a fortified city, where ten thousand armed 
 men could not enter ; and but for that great en- 
 couragement — the use of the land without paying 
 for it — Australia would have long remained and 
 been no better than a walled city. If the occupants 
 of the Crown lands reap, as it is usually said, all 
 the benefits of the country, they must, at the same 
 time, be considered as having rendered a large 
 return, if not an equivalent, for the privileges which 
 they possess, in the employment of their capital, 
 by making the natural wealth of the country 
 serviceable for the public benefit. Without very 
 great encouragement to capital, persons would 
 never have been found to embark their money in 
 an undertaking where the issues were problematical ; 
 with hazards and uncertainties surrounding them 
 on every side, and with no conveniences of any 
 kind, such as roads and bridges, nor public
 
 .SQIL\TTINC. 105 
 
 cxpciKlilurc to meet public necessities. What 
 centuries would have to accomplish, in ]>uichasing 
 the land before obtaining the use of it, squatting 
 has accomplished within a comparatively short 
 period of time. The squatter's life has not been 
 altogether a smooth one, \\'ithout difficulties : 
 experience had to be gained, knowledge of 
 country accjuired, modes of management to be 
 learned ; besides, there were injurious influences 
 at work, such as droughts, disease amongst stock, 
 fluctuating prices in the London market, com- 
 mercial crises in England — one of which nearly 
 ruined every squatter in Australia. This is one 
 side of the picture which is never looked at, and, 
 indeed, completely ignored by many who cr)' out 
 against the squatters — the croakers forgetting all 
 the while that it was the painstaking, industrious 
 hands of tliat class which were feeding them. 
 
 The land being taken possession of and appro- 
 priated by individuals, in accordance with Act 
 of Parliament, a right of an important character 
 has been acquired and grown up — namely, the 
 squatter's right. Time has only added to the diffi- 
 culty of meddling with that right, and increased 
 the complications in which the whole subject is in- 
 volved. Mr. First has sold his right of occupation 
 to Mr. Second ; Mr. Second has sold his right to 
 Mr. Third, and the land has passed into the hands 
 of Mr. Sixth, or Mr. Tenth ; each one having paid 
 large sums for his right, with the exception of Mr. 
 First, who must also be regarded as having paid 
 very largel)- for his right of occupation, in the
 
 io6 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 expenses which he incurred in taking up the 
 country, and the risk of life which he probably- 
 exposed himself to in ' brushes ' with the aborigines. 
 The Government always insists upon its right to 
 the land, and has never, on any occasion, acknow- 
 ledged the right of compensation to the squatter 
 — except for his improvements — when it takes 
 away any of his land from him, for the purpose 
 of selling it to others. The upset price of i/. 
 per acre, which has puzzled so many, is easily 
 understood ; it was intended originally as a break- 
 water, to prevent the squattages from being 
 seriously encroached on. There were also some 
 public purposes which were intended to be served 
 in fixing on the high price. Good land is very 
 small in quantity in comparison with bad, and is 
 usually found in streaks and patches on the sides 
 of creeks and rivers. The holders of Crown lands, 
 if permitted to purchase their streaks and patches 
 of good land, would be in continued possession of 
 the large area of bad land adjoining. The getting 
 hold of these streaks and patches has been called 
 ' picking the eyes out of the country,' and the high 
 price of i/. per acre was intended for such land, 
 and as a kind of protest against the spoiling of the 
 country for purposes of future colonisation and 
 settlement. William Charles Wentworth, orator, 
 ' Shepherd King,' and inaugurator of responsible 
 government in Au.stralia, estimated the value of 
 the grass lands before the gold discovery, and 
 when the prices of wool and tallow were very low, 
 at three-halfpence an acre ; and there is a great
 
 SQUATTING 107 
 
 deal of land in the interior which might be said to 
 be not fit for selling, especially in small quantities, 
 A severe drought, such as that which occurred 
 during the end of 1865 and the beginning of 1866, 
 would be disastrous in the extreme to those whose 
 propert)' consisted chiefly of land. If the country 
 were not liable to protracted droughts, and if there 
 were seasonable showers of rain, the land, for 
 grazing, might be said to be altogether invaluable, 
 as cultivation could scarcely produce a better 
 quality of grasses and herbage than those which 
 are found growing naturally. The climate is 
 hardly adapted to the growing of fine wool. 
 Stations, or runs, vary in size from ten thousand 
 acres to half a million of acres, according to the 
 extent of country originally taken up by pioneers. 
 A gentleman in the Survey Department of New 
 South Wales, employed by the Government in 
 defining the boundaries between New South Wales 
 and Queensland, mentioned to the writer the case 
 of one gentleman who had taken up and occupied 
 one hundred miles of frontage to a river ! The 
 boundaries between stations are usually all well 
 defined — as much so, indeed, as the boundaries 
 between gentlemen's or noblemen's estates in Great 
 ]-5ritain — and are almost entirely determined and 
 delineated b}' the falls of water into creeks or 
 rivers, and by marks on the trees. There seems 
 to have been no restrictions as to the quantity of 
 land which one individual might occupy ; and the 
 settler, as the pioneer or squatter may be fairly 
 called, is not confined to one block : he may take
 
 loS ArS'J'RALIA AS IT IS 
 
 up four, ten, or even twenty blocks, cither all ad- 
 joining or in different parts. In Queensland, where 
 the taking up of country has been going on of late 
 years at a very rapid pace, much disappointment, 
 and no small amount of loss of time and money, 
 was sustained by many who had been trafficking 
 in blocks, taking up country, and selling their 
 right to it to others. A sudden stop was put to 
 this by an Act of the Queensland Parliament, 
 recognising no one's right to the country which he 
 claimed unless he was in occupation, and had 
 stocked it to the extent of one-fourth of its grazing 
 capabilities. There were many who could, with 
 no small degree of self-adulation, use the phrase, 
 ' I am monarch of all I survey, my right there is 
 none to dispute ' — who were rejoicing over their 
 acquired possessions, and had been at great trouble 
 in marking their boundaries, and having their 
 names registered in the Crown Land Commissioners' 
 books as the rightful, because the first, claimants 
 to the part of country. They found themselves, 
 however, suddenly deprived of the fruits of all their 
 vexatious toil and adventure ; found that it was 
 a mere shadow which they had been clinging to 
 and trusting, unless in those cases where they 
 had cattle or sheep to stock their country. Mr, 
 Robertson, the Prime Minister of New South 
 Wales, publicly complained at the time how he 
 and his partner had been baulked of their Queens- 
 land territory. They had neither sheep nor cattle 
 upon it — some person, with sheep or cattle, had 
 taken possession of it, and the Queensland Govern-
 
 SQUATTIXC. 109 
 
 mcnt recognised the man with the sheeiJand cittlc 
 as the proper chiimant. Laws affecting grazing or 
 squatting will be found to vary in all the Australian 
 colonics, as well as in New Zealand. In the case of 
 the first occupiers — that is, those who have been 
 the first to take up the country the practice of 
 the Government hitherto has been to grant a lease 
 of fourteen years, and at the expiration of that 
 period a renewal of the lease for ten or for fi\e years. 
 The stocks are at the same time liable to assess- 
 ment, to meet the necessities of Government — 
 dealt with as a whole — and are the great source of 
 maintenance, the pillar of support of the colony. 
 The assessment levied upon the stock will always 
 be considered with regard to the interests of the 
 graziers. If, instead of a penny per head of sheep, 
 the squatters in Victoria had been called on to pay 
 a shilling a head after the gold discovery, the in- 
 crease in the assessment could not have been con- 
 sidered unjust, as sheep were largel}' increased in 
 value. The mode, also, of making the squatters 
 pay for the privileges which they might be supposed 
 to possess cannot be regarded as in any wa\- un- 
 fair. The grazing capabilities of their runs are 
 valued after the expiration of the fourteen )-ears' 
 lease by persons appointed by the Government ; 
 and the occupier of a run of a hundred thousand 
 acres may not have to pay so much as the occupier 
 * of a run of forty thousand acres — the run of forty 
 thousand acres being estimated to carry more stock 
 than the run of a hundred thousand acres. Besides, 
 the squatter has always the remcd)-, when he
 
 no AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 thinks the Government \akiation too high, of 
 having the dispute settled by arbitration. The 
 squatters in the older colonies of New South Wales 
 and Victoria cannot complain of much injustice in 
 having to pay more for their grazing than they do 
 in Queensland, as they possess greater public ad- 
 vantages, such as roads and bridges, with a larger 
 population, thus causing them to obtain better 
 prices for their spare stock. Fifteen pounds a 
 year for the use of as much land as will graze one 
 thousand sheep, and twenty pounds a year for the 
 use of as much land as will graze five hundred 
 cattle, will not generally be considered exorbitant 
 taxation or rental ; besides, the land may, in 
 favourable seasons, carry two or three times the 
 quantity of stock above what is estimated. 
 Previous to the gold discovery runs were not of 
 very great account, as the value of sheep and cattle 
 consisted chiefly in the tallow which they would 
 produce after having been boiled down, and the 
 rights to parts of country as large as English or 
 Scottish counties, with all the improvements upon 
 them — sometimes very valuable — were sold at ex- 
 ceedingly low prices. The same practice was adopted 
 then as that which continues to be still in vogue. 
 The station, with all the improvements, is given 
 in with the purchase-sum of the stock upon it, the 
 price of the herd of cattle (which might range from 
 eight to ten shillings ; that of sheep from four to 
 six shillings) ; and the person buying the sheep or 
 cattle receives along with them the right to the 
 country where they are grazing, with all the im-
 
 SQUATTING ill 
 
 provcmcnts uixmi it, such as dwcllinL^-house, woc;!- 
 shcd, huts, &c., inckidiiiL;- the rij^ht to brand 
 the unmustered cattle and horses. Before boihng 
 down was thought of, and during a time of great 
 depression, occasioned by a commercial crisis in 
 Enghmd, stations, sheep, cattle, and horses sunk to 
 an infinitesimal price, and might be said, indeed, to 
 have had no marketable value. A stor}' was told 
 the writer by an old colonist of a gentleman 
 arriving in New South Wales at the period referred 
 to, from England, and purchasing several thousand 
 sheep at sixpence a head : it was a very cheap 
 bargain, he thought, and he calculated on realising 
 a profit by driving them over and selling them in 
 the Port Philip district. He failed in his reckon- 
 ing, however ; after the expenses of the journey, 
 he had not left himself sufficient to pay the men 
 whom he had engaged as drovers, and he could 
 not find anyone to purchase his sheep. It came at 
 last to a parley ; and he proposed to the drovers 
 that they should take the sheep for their wages. 
 This they consented to, and without any more ado 
 he turned his back on his way to Sydney, leaving 
 the men with the sheep to make the best of their 
 bargain. 
 
 The gold-diggings brought about a revolution 
 in the value of stock and stations, as they did in 
 almost ever}' other mercantile commodity ; and 
 no other description of property, perhaps, has been 
 so much enhanced in \alue, and shown so little 
 symptoms of decline. Population was all that 
 was needed to bring money into the hands of
 
 112 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 the graziers, and the gold-diggings did this most 
 effectually. 
 
 The consumption of animal food is very great 
 in the Australian colonies. Beef or mutton is the 
 principal article of dietary in the three meals a 
 da)', and every individual is estimated to consume 
 a bullock in the year. From the increased price 
 of sheep and cattle stations are more than quad- 
 rupled in value, whilst a fresh impetus is given 
 to the taking-up of new country, aided and stimu- 
 lated by the largely-increased prices of wool and 
 tallow in the London market. Practically, and 
 speaking generally, the land for grazing is out of 
 the hands of Government altogether, and ' if any 
 one chooses to commence grazing or squatting in 
 Australia or New Zealand, if he does not go and 
 take up countrv', he need not go to the Govern- 
 ment, but to those in occupation, and bargain with 
 them. 
 
 Occasionallv tliere are stations which, from 
 v^arious causes, fall into the hands of Govern- 
 ment ; the principal cause being the desertion of 
 those places. The Government adopts the usual 
 course of disposing of the right to these un- 
 occupied locations by public auction. The following 
 is a copy of a Government advertisement in one 
 of the Sydney newspapers in reference to these 
 stations :
 
 SQUATTIXC. n3 
 
 UN STOCKED RUNS. 
 
 liv Oui'KR oi-' THE Government ok New South Wales. 
 
 Day of Sale, Monday, 2()th Jamtary next. 
 
 RICHARDSON and WRENCH have received instructions from 
 the Honoural)le the Minister for Lands to Sell by Public 
 Auction, at the Rooms, Pitt Street, Sydney, on Monday, 29th 
 January next, at il o'clock, 
 
 New Leases for Five Years of the several runs of Crown Lands 
 hereinafter mentioned, upon the terms and conditions pre- 
 scribed by the Crown Lands (Occupation Act of 186 1, and 
 the regulations framed in pursuance thereof. 
 
 *^* Full particulars of the boundaries of the several runs may 
 be obtained upon application at Messrs. Richardson and Wrench's 
 Rooms, or from the Government Gazette, No. 272, of Friday, 
 the 29th December last. 
 
 The special attention of intending purchasers is directed to the 
 following clauses in the conditions under which the leases will be 
 Sold, viz. : 
 
 The lease of each run for five years will be sold to the person 
 who may offer the highest premium for the purchase thereof, and 
 sul)ject only to the annual rental specified. 
 
 The purchaser will be required to pay down at the time of sale 
 a deposit equivalent to 25 per cent, of the premium (if any) offered 
 for the lease, together with the rent computed from the ist January 
 to the 31st December 1S66. 
 
 These runs will not be liable to assessment under the Increased 
 Assessment anti Rent Act of i8vS. 
 
 CLARENCE DISTRICT. 
 
 No. 
 
 1 Tomara 
 
 2 Marydale 
 
 Estimated area. 
 Acres. 
 
 Rent. 
 
 14,000 
 
 Zll 
 
 16,000 
 
 13
 
 114 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 LACIILAN DISTRICT. 
 
 Estimaled area. 
 
 No. Acres. Rent. 
 
 3 North Ilyandra 64,000 ;^5o 
 
 4 North-East Wallandia .... 64,000 50 
 
 5 Salmagundia 23,040 18 
 
 MONARO DLSTRICT. 
 
 6 Miiirah 10,000 10 
 
 MURRUMBIDGEE DISTRICT. 
 
 7 Argalond 16,000 13 
 
 NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT. 
 
 8 Mooraback 20,480 16 
 
 WELLINGTON DISTRICT. 
 
 9 Jumble Plains, block B . . . • 32,000 13 
 
 10 Ditto do. C . . . . 51,200 40 
 
 11 Ditto do. C; . . . . 38,400 15 
 
 12 Corses Coule . . . * . 16,000 13 
 
 13 Palisthan 64,000 100 
 
 The previous occupants of these stations had 
 undoubtedly very good reasons for pai-ting with 
 their interest in them ; and they most hkely had 
 been at very considerable expense in the erection 
 of their homesteads. The objection to some 
 stations might be a want of water, and in some 
 .seasons, especially in winter, too much water ; 
 another objection might be, that the country was 
 scrubby and mountainous. The subject is notice- 
 able as illustrative of the variety of country, and 
 of some districts which might be said to be 
 scarcely worth having, or even to be ruinous to 
 those in occupation. The country may be all 
 generally described as beautifully grassed, and
 
 SQUATTIXr, 115 
 
 thinly timbered ; but the f^rasses in some parts 
 arc more nourishing;' than they arc in others. 
 There is the distinction sometimes made between 
 ' brcech'ng ' and ' fatteninc^ ' country ; and there is 
 the same distinction to be made between all the 
 pastured farms, some of which arc mcjre valuable 
 than others. The greatest drawback to some of 
 the best grazing land in Australia is the grass 
 seed ; the tufts of grass throw out long shoots of 
 seed-bearing stems like oats or barley, and when 
 the seeds ripen, they come in contact with the 
 wool of the sheep, and frequentl}' pro\e injurious 
 to the health of the animal by penetrating the 
 skin. The 'thistle' and 'burr' are imported weeds, 
 and are extremely destructive in districts where 
 there is rich alluvial deposit of soil, laying it com- 
 pletely waste and absolutely useless — sometimes, 
 indeed, worse than useless — for the grazing of 
 sheep. Like the imported bees, they continue to 
 spread farther and farther every year into the 
 interior, the one, however, a curse, and the other a 
 blessing — marching, as it were, arm-in-arm. On 
 one station, thirty miles in length, and twenty-five 
 in breadth (very favourably adapted for those 
 pestilent weeds taking root and flourishing, con- 
 sisting chiefly of flats of black soil) the owner had 
 fifteen men employed at thirteen shillings a-week 
 in the endeavour, if not to extirpate, at least to 
 keep them down. It was rather a hopeless under- 
 taking, howc\er, as the next flood would sow the 
 land afresh with seed carried from the banks of 
 the river. The owner was subscquentl)' desirous 
 
 I 2
 
 ii6 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 ofsclliiv^' his station, whicli contained t\vcnt\' thou- 
 sand sheep, and about six thousand head of cattle, 
 and for the whole he was willing to take 25,000/. 
 This gentleman, who was a very old bush residenter, 
 ga\"c a singular account of himself. He had brought 
 all his mone}' with him from England in sovereigns : 
 the ship in which he was a passenger was wrecked, 
 and his sovereigns, with the ship, went to the 
 bottom of the sea ; he got his foot safely on shore, 
 however, and was reduced to the position of a 
 working man. Nothing daunted, he made his way 
 into the interior and looked out for employment ; 
 he had been engaged as a shepherd in the station 
 of which he was now the owner, and a rich relation 
 had died and left him money sufficient to purchase 
 it from his employer. Besides grass seeds and 
 burr, there is another great foe to the squatting 
 kingdom. The greatest terror is always entertained 
 of it, and every foe would seem to dwindle into in- 
 significance in comparison. This is ' scab.' The most 
 stringent laws are in force to prevent its spreading, 
 and the only effectual method that would ever seem 
 to have been discovered for its removal, is the same 
 as that which has been applied for the removal of 
 the ' cattle plague ' in Great Britain — stamping out 
 — slaughtering the whole flock of sheep, in which 
 even one or two sheep may be found affected ; the 
 Government awarding compensation to the amount 
 of four shillings for every sheep thus killed, 
 from a fund contributed by the graziers to the 
 Government for the purpose. Those who fail to 
 comply with these scab regulations, and do not
 
 SQUATTIXr, 117 
 
 kill all their llocks cjf sheep in \\'hich an}- of them 
 may be found discasctl, are heavily fined. Whilst 
 travelling over a station, in which the stamping 
 out process was going on, I saw thirty men engaged 
 in the destruction of three thousand maiden ewes 
 which had caught the disease from imported rams. 
 The men appeared to do their work very systema- 
 tically, but it was a fearfully revolting spectacle. 
 There were carts driving dried timber, and men 
 emplo)'ed in making a funereal pile of it ; with 
 every la}'er of wood there was a la^'cr of the newly 
 killed sheep ; higher and higher the pile of wood 
 and wool, flesh and bones, was raised ; and as the 
 last carcase was heaved upon the top of the huge 
 mass of the recently animated matter, a lighted 
 match very speedily consummated the work that 
 had been commenced, a finishing stroke to the 
 work of absolute ruin and destruction in which 
 they had been engaged. The men stripped them- 
 sehes of all their outer clothing, in accordance 
 w ilh the terms of the Scab Act, and threw them 
 into the flames. 
 
 There is a large, wide-spread ramification of 
 streams and branches of labour and industry — all 
 having their source and dependence upon .squatting. 
 Blocks of country necessarily require overseers, 
 shepherds, and stockmen ; bullock-drivers arc also 
 indispensable. The next important personage, a 
 representative of labour following in the wake of 
 capital, is the bush carpenter, to aitl in making 
 huts, stackyards, fencing and hurdles. A bush 
 carpenter is worth at least a dozen of his more
 
 iiS AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 pretentious town namesakes ; \\ith no other ap- 
 pliances than liis axe, adze, morticing tool, 
 and cross-cut saw, he is competent with the 
 assistance of another man to do ahnost any 
 kind of work in the carpentering Hne of busi- 
 ness required in the bush. Temporary house 
 accommodation is ahvays easily provided by means 
 of a few sheets of bark stripped from the neigh- 
 bouring trees, one extremity resting on the ground, 
 the other resting in a slanting direction on a pole 
 a few feet abo\e the ground, fixed on two forked 
 sticks, in the shape of the roof of a house. This 
 erection is called a giingah — the native style of 
 house architecture, and the first approach that is 
 made to house-building. A hut is an erection of 
 a much more substantial character, and bears 
 throughout all the usual marks in the delineation 
 of a house, having a door, window, and chimney. 
 The walls are made of split timber six or eight 
 feet in length ; one end sunk in the ground, the 
 other standing upright, are either nailed to, or put 
 into grooves in the wall plate. There are always 
 two apartments, with holes of greater or less 
 dimensions cut in the wooden walls for the pur- 
 pose of admitting light, and serving as windows. 
 There is seldom, however, in any hut a want of 
 light, as the shrinking of the slabs causes innu- 
 merable openings in the walls all round and round, 
 and light as well as fresh air are poured in as freely 
 and bountifully as into a bird's cage in the open 
 air. A hut is the kind of accommodation provided 
 for shepherds and all the working-men employed
 
 SQUATTING 119 
 
 at stations, and with which the owners themselves 
 arc contented on first startini^ their bush hfe. 
 House-building is never regarded as a matter of 
 much serious thought or concern ; trees being 
 plentiful, and some of them being remarkably 
 well adapted for being split into slabs. When 
 required to bestow any extra amount of care and 
 attention, the carpenter can make the split timber 
 to appear as if it had come from a saw-pit. Shingles, 
 that is, strips of split wood like slates, may be 
 sometimes used for covering the roof, but bark, 
 carefully taken off the trees, is generally em- 
 ployed. Neatness and comfort may be sometimes 
 happily combined with very little expense. The 
 owner of a squattage property and fifteen 
 thousand .sheep, assured mc that his dwelling- 
 house, a remarkably neat and commodious build- 
 ing, of eight apartments, did not cost him more 
 than sixteen pounds. He .superintended the 
 erection of it himself, and the unnecessary expense 
 which he might have lavished on his house, he 
 had expended in the cultivation of a garden 
 and vineyard. There are not man\- hands required 
 at cattle-stations, as aboriginal boys and men 
 can always be readily obtained, when needed, 
 from the blacks belonging to the locality, who 
 are alwa}-s roaming about from place to place, 
 and who \cry soon become domesticated ; their 
 services are quite as valuable in the mustering of 
 stock, if not more so, than the services of white 
 men. There is also great economy in emplo)-ing 
 them, as clothing, tobacco, flour, and sugar is all
 
 mo AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 the remuneration they ever think of. Sheep- 
 stations are the great rendezvous of the labouring 
 class of the population ; and this is more particu- 
 larly the case when the proprietor with his family 
 reside there. In respect of the number of persons 
 emplo}'ed, and of the order and system of manage- 
 ment, a large sheep-station might be said to differ 
 little from a manufactory in a town. One large 
 sheep-owner remarked to the writer, who was staying 
 at his house, that he had one hundred mouths to 
 fill all the year round ; and at the busy season of 
 sheep-shearing and harvesting he had as many 
 more to provide for. Lambing and sheep-shearing 
 provide employment for a large number of persons 
 engaged at other occupations, such as splitting, 
 fencing, gold-digging, &c., during the remainder of 
 the year. Two months' constant employment may 
 be sometimes obtained at sheep-shearing by going 
 from one part of country to another, according as 
 sheep-shearing has progressed. The work is 
 always done at so much per score of sheep — usually 
 about four shillings, with rations ; and good 
 shearers are reported to clip as many as five and 
 six score a day. None of them, however, seem 
 at all fastidious about clipping the skin off with 
 the wool ; the sheep do not seem to suffer in 
 any way from the rough handling to which they 
 arc frequently subjected. The excessive dryness 
 of the climate soon heals the wounds, and the 
 blow-fly docs not injure them. Sheep-shearers are 
 also expected to wash the sheep previous to 
 shearing, at the current rate of labouring men's
 
 SQUATTIXr, 121 
 
 wages. Shc[jhcrd.s arc never called on to shear sheep; 
 and, indeed, not one, perhaps, in fifty of the class of 
 individuals usually engaged in shepherding could 
 do it. There is a store at every station belonging 
 to the owner, which contains supplies of clothing, 
 shoes, tobacco, crockery, and all the other neces- 
 saries which individuals and families on a .station 
 might stand in need of, or be likely to ask for, thus 
 saving them the very great inconvenience they 
 would be exposed to in travelling long distances to 
 have their wants supplied. The gra/ier in Aus- 
 tralia is not onl\- a grower of wool, but a dealer in 
 slops, blankets, household utensils, saddles, shoes, 
 &c. When there are two or three young families 
 residing at the head-station, a schoolmaster will 
 generally be found, who adds to the duties of 
 teacher very frequently those of storekeeper. One 
 seldom hears complaints of the want of teachers, 
 as there are numbers of persons who ha\e received 
 a good education, dislike shepherding, and are 
 unable to do manual labour, who take to teaching 
 in families as a means of earning a livelihood, and 
 securing for themselves a comfortable home. It is 
 very usual for shepherds, who have bo)'s in their 
 families shepherding, to be provided with family 
 tutors. They can, ofcour.se, onl)' be taught in the 
 evenings, and the spare time at the teacher's dis- 
 posal is very likely expended in such work as 
 cultivating the garden. The want of medical 
 attendance, one is very apt to suppose, must, be 
 severely felt in the thinly-populated pastoral dis- 
 tricts, where there are squatters residing with their
 
 122 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 families ; however, an arrangement is often entered 
 into by contributing a sum of money in the shape of 
 a bounty for the residence of a medical practitioner. 
 There is also a fair sprinkling of individuals who 
 have some knowledge of medicine and surgery, who 
 can prescribe and ' put to their hands ' in cases of 
 emergency ; whilst there are few of the squatters 
 who are not provided with a ' medicine chest.' 
 One regularly-qualified medical practitioner, acting 
 as superintendent of a cattle-station, incidentally 
 mentioned to the writer, when halting for the night 
 at his house, that he had taken the situation 
 because he could not conscientiously charge the 
 fees which other medical men were doing — fees 
 which appeared to him to be little better' than 
 robbery of unfortunate people. The climate is 
 remarkably healthy, and in the case of working- 
 men requiring constant medical attendance, there 
 are Government hospitals in all the populated 
 districts to which those persons are sent. Clergy- 
 men are few and far between, and are placed at an 
 immense disadvantage, having literally no resting- 
 place for their feet. It may take one a whole day 
 to travel over some man's run to see a family ; and 
 it is a very charitable interpretation, indeed, to say 
 of the large bulk of the people, that they are living 
 in a patriarchal state, and that every head of a 
 family is the priest of his own house. There is 
 one thing to be said in favour of many, if not of 
 most of them, that they arc always looking forward 
 to a more settled mode of life. 
 
 The starting of a township is regarded as
 
 SQUATTING 123 
 
 a great event, and anyone ambitious of jK-r- 
 petuatinc,' his name and handing it down to pos- 
 terit)' as the founder of a city— perhaps the future 
 capital of a great nation — may do so an>' day in 
 Australia without exposing himself to the risk of 
 much loss or inconvenience. The first to earn this 
 honourable distinction is usually a bullock-driver, 
 and all he has had to do has been merely to ask 
 permission of the squatter, or the gentleman in 
 whose employment he may have been, to erect a 
 hut for himself and family at the crossing-pkice of 
 the river, or some other eligible place on the station. 
 Sheep increase, cattle increase, wealth increases ; 
 more labour is required, and population increases ; 
 the bullock-driver, in his long, toilsome journey to 
 the coast, with his load of wool, brings back, on 
 his return load, many things which he shrewdly 
 guesses he can sell at an immense profit in the 
 neighbourhood where he resides. He opens a store 
 and does a thriving business ; there is a petition to 
 the Government for the running of a mail ; and 
 the store having become a public-place, and being 
 conveniently situated, it is found suitable for the 
 post-office. The Government is at last supposed 
 to be alive to the occasion, and surveyors are 
 despatched to lay out a township at the locality. 
 
 There is far more instinct than reason in many 
 of the people, with their carefully-accumulated 
 earnings. The allotments of land being put up 
 for sale b}- public auction, the}- throw awa}- their 
 money in bidding against each other for such 
 allotments as they may have set their hearts upon,
 
 124 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 when tlic}- purpose establishing themselves in the 
 line of business to which they may have been bred, as 
 shoemakers, tailors, saddlers, &:c. Storekeepingand 
 innkeeping invariably take the lead ; and in some 
 of the outlying townships, one individual may be 
 sometimes found to hold in his hands all the business 
 done in the place, and to be storekeeper, innkeeper, 
 pound-keeper, and postmaster. Many of these 
 worthies undoubtedly act very discreetly, and do not 
 take too great advantage of their situation, in dis- 
 posing of articles with which the settler's stores are 
 not provided ; and it is to be hoped that the instance 
 of one, mentioned in the hearing of the writer, as 
 selling needles at a shilling a piece, was a purely 
 exceptional case. Modern civilisation may have a 
 great deal to recommend it, but there is a great deal 
 of modern civilisation which bush people could 
 easily afford to lose : the gratifying of the sense of 
 novelty not at all compensating for the expense of 
 purchase. Travelling Jews with trinkets, organ- 
 grinders, German bands, Ethiopian serenaders, 
 circuses, electro-biologists, and people of that class, 
 arc great nuisances in the embryo townships. Pho- 
 tographers might claim for themselves exemption 
 from being classed with the useless train of camp- 
 followers. One of these persons with whom I met 
 in the far bush, and who had been the first in the 
 field, stated that in a short time he had accumu- 
 lated ten thousand pounds ; and as he thought 
 that he might as well enjoy the fruits of his 
 earnings, he went on a trip to England. After 
 spending all his money, he returned to the bush to
 
 SQLWTTIXC; 125 
 
 recruit his finances ; but to his great disgust he 
 found the \\'h(jle country wherever he went, over- 
 run w ith [photographers, spreading themselves out 
 hke a string of wild geese, and could not get an 
 opening ; at ever}- place he went to, indeed, there 
 had been a photographer before him ; and he was 
 obliged to change his occupation, and as the people 
 had all their cartes de visite of their heads outside 
 taken, he commenced to take and give cartes de 
 visite of their heads inside — phrenological charts. 
 
 The sheep-farmers would seem to be of opinion 
 that, from the description and quality of labour 
 thrown into their hands from emigrant ships — 
 like raw material sent ashore to be converted 
 into useful purposes — a knowledge of the manage- 
 ment of men is an important branch in the 
 knowledge of their business, and as much to be 
 attended to as the management of stock. In fact, 
 the same talents are required for a successful 
 sheep-farmer as those that goto make a good drill- 
 sergeant. To teach others, they require to be well 
 taught themselves ; to know everything ; to see 
 everything done by everybody ; to be first and 
 foremost in everything. It is not easy to persuade 
 some ' new arrivals ' of this, and there are some 
 very slow, and some unwilling to learn. Mr. 
 Gruther, owner of several large squattagcs, who 
 had a world of hard, rough Australian experiences 
 hid within his breast, had consigned to him from 
 England two young relatives to indoctrinate into 
 the mysteries of sheep-farming, and to lead them 
 in the same path as that b\- which he had been
 
 136 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 conducted to opulence. He was as kind to them 
 as any one could have desired. After an early 
 breakfast one morning, he asked them to go with 
 him to the wash-pool, where the men were washing 
 the sheep, previous to shearing. It was a very 
 busy time and everyone was employed. Mr. 
 Gruther was a man of few words, and on arriving 
 at the wash-pool, he said to his young friends : 
 * Strip, strip.' They could not believe that he 
 meant them to divest themselves of their super- 
 finery and go into the dirty pool amongst the men ; 
 but Mr. Gruther was in earnest, and, without saying 
 another word, watching his opportunity, when they 
 were both standing near the brink of the wash-pool, 
 he placed a hand on the back of each and shoved 
 them both in, superfinery and all. 
 
 Not the least of the many important considera- 
 tions connected with squatting, is the claim which 
 has come to be established, and recognised, of bona 
 fide settlement ; and the statement made in the 
 preceding chapter of ' no attachment being formed 
 to place ' would require to be corrected here, for 
 through the lapse of time a very strong attachment 
 will sometimes be formed to place. The best 
 evidence of this is in the stylish mansions, houses, 
 gardens, and vineyards, which are occasionally 
 met with at stations where the proprietor resides, 
 and it is scarcely possible for fancy to conjure up 
 nujre pleasant homes, and luxurious retreats from 
 the rude bustle of the world, than some of these 
 squattage residences. Through the effect of the 
 operation of the great law of custom, it will
 
 SOUATTINr, 127 
 
 general 1)' be found tliat the man who pa)'s his 
 yearly rental, say forty pountls, for the land, frcjin 
 which he is grazing three or four thousand sheep, 
 or a thousand head of cattle, feels his position in 
 ever}' way as good as the man who purchases his 
 forty acres for forty pounds. This observation 
 applies to the large bulk of squattage properties. 
 No doubt the squatter may be deprived of his 
 propertx' when the Government requires the land 
 with a view to selling it, as it may be stated, for 
 public uses or for agriculture. To w hat other public 
 uses, however, can the great bulk of the land be 
 applied than that to which it is already applied — 
 grazing ? And as to agricultural land at twent}- 
 shillings an acre, very little indeed can ever be 
 cultivated and sold at that price. There was one 
 squatter in Queensland, known to the writer, x\ho 
 had twelve thousand acres taken off his run by the 
 Government for the purpose of selling it to land- 
 order emigrants. In a large squattage of a hundred 
 thousand, or two hundred thousand acres, twelve 
 thousand does not count for much, and in this 
 instance, as in others, the gentleman who had lost 
 this portion of his run \'ery likely found the 
 remainder enhanced in value — a market being 
 brought to his door for his stock. The subject is 
 well understood, the squatter purchases as little 
 land as possible ; the purchase of land he alwa\'s 
 regards as throwing away money, and when he 
 does purchase, it is merely to keep others off his 
 run. Buying land is an English idea, and were a 
 real Australian settler asked to buy the land of
 
 128 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 which he holds possession, at a pound an acre, he 
 would look with as much blank astonishment as a 
 captain of a \-essel would do in mid-ocean, if 
 Neptune, with his trident, suddenly rose from the 
 deep and asked him to buy the salt water of \\-hich 
 he was obtaining the use and benefit. But squatters 
 do buy land, they are, in fact, very partial to it. 
 l-5y buying certain spots on their runs they can 
 secure themselves in possession of large adjoining 
 areas of their grazing land ; and they have derived 
 enormous advantages from 'pre-emption right' — 
 the right in the first place of purchasing a 
 square mile of the land w^here the head station 
 is situated, and from the scarcity of available 
 land which may occur at intervals in streaks 
 and patches, this may include, in no small 
 number of instances, all the available land on the 
 run. 
 
 Ever}' one has heard of the Victoria great land 
 swindle, and the great tossing up of cabbage-tree 
 hats by the squatters there during the administration 
 of the land in that colony by Mr. Gavan Duffy, of 
 TJic Irish Nation fame. Nothing could have ex- 
 ceeded the ovation given Mr. Duffy, on his arrival, 
 by the radical brotherhood of Sydney and Mel- 
 bourne. ' The right man in the right place.' A 
 testimonial in money was given to him, to enable 
 him to support the dignity which they intended to 
 bestow upon him, in the shape of high legislative 
 honours in Victoria. Daniel O'Connell used to say 
 that a carriage-and-four could be driven through 
 any Act of Parliament ; had he lived, he might
 
 SQUATTINCi 129 
 
 have seen an Act of Parliament, made by his 
 henchman, in which the rights to three milh'ons of 
 acres of the best land in Victoria were driven through 
 an Act by card shuffling, dodging and making 
 use of what, in colonial phrase, is called ' dummies.' 
 In New South Wales, where radical rule also 
 prevails, in the case of a squatter who wished to 
 retain hold of his run, when in danger of losing it 
 by others coming in and settling upon it, the wife 
 of his overseer said to me, that the infant at lier 
 breast, and the rest of her children, were ' free 
 selectors' — that is, the owner of the station had 
 made use of their names in picking u]) the best 
 parts of the run, not for the land itself, but to 
 remain in undisturbed possession of the grazing 
 land adjoining. This is, in general, very easily 
 done, from the peculiar geographical character of 
 the country, and by purchasing the narrow strip of 
 alluvial land at the sides of creeks, rivers, and 
 water-holes. The immense areas of country without 
 water are absolutely valueless, save to those who 
 arc in possession of these water frontages. The 
 Government of New South Wales cannot be sup- 
 posed to be ignorant of the fact that dodges, such 
 as that related above, arc practised, and of the 
 spoliation, or ' manipulation ' of the Crown lands, 
 as the Sydney Morning Herald calls it. Several 
 merchants and others in Sydney having interest in 
 runs, frankly confessed to the Minister of Lands — 
 Mr. Robertson — in remonstrating with him on the 
 enormities of his Land Act, that they had practised 
 these dodges themselves. 
 
 K
 
 i30 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 ' The good old rule, the simple plan, 
 That they shall take who have the power, 
 And they shall keep who can.' 
 
 All this has taken place, and is taking place, under 
 radical rule. The Government of Queensland is 
 more conservative, however, than the Governments 
 of Victoria and New South Wales, in not being so 
 liberal, or, to speak more correctly, so prodigal of 
 public property, whilst they would seem to be 
 influenced by the consideration that the colony will 
 last longer than their life-time, and that the world 
 is not yet coming to an end. Hence, the squatters 
 in Queensland are not permitted to ' dodge,' botch, 
 make use of ' dummies,' purchase select parts of 
 their runs, simply to keep others off, or to destroy 
 the country for all purposes of future colonisation 
 and settlement. 
 
 One is entirely driven out to sea in not knowing 
 what to think of squatting, in regard to its most 
 important political bearings. The grass land is 
 necessarily limited, and it is not every one who 
 can share in the boon of having sixty thousand, 
 one hundred or two hundred thousand acres of 
 land at a small rental. The squatters are a 
 privileged class of the community, and are there- 
 fors regarded with great disfavour and jealousy by 
 those classes of the community who are called the 
 people, par excellence, and none but those who 
 have lived at the antipodes can understand the 
 antagonism which exists between them. Over the 
 larger extent of the interior, throughout nearly the
 
 SQUATTING nj 
 
 whole of Ouccnshmd, where all the pe()[)le are more 
 or less connected with, and dependent upon, 
 squattint^, the people live agreeably together. But 
 when pojiulation increases, and other interests 
 spring up, the whole social body festers with sores 
 — as if man were not brother to man. 
 
 The appropriating of select parts of country 
 under the name of agricultural reserves, exclusively 
 for the benefit of purchasers of land, was a most 
 beneficial act on the part of the Queensland 
 Legislature. The measure reflects the highest 
 credit on the Government of that colony, standing 
 out, as it does, in striking contrast to the 'go any- 
 where ' system of New South Wales, and the 
 ' house that Jack built ' land legislation of Victoria. 
 The land question is an interminable subject of 
 discussion. The following extract from the Queens- 
 land Gtiardian, in reference to the most favoured 
 part of that colony, the Darling Downs, which is 
 called ' The Garden of Queensland,' will illustrate 
 some of the causes of disaffection : 
 
 APPRAISEMENT OF RUNS ON THE DARLING 
 DOWNS. 
 
 The following are the appraisements made by Mr. F. Gregory 
 of the rent to be paid on the undermentioned runs, on the Darling 
 Downs, during the five years' renewed leases, commencing January i, 
 1866: 
 
 Gowric, Frederick Neville Isaac, 70,000 acres— ;,{^583 6j. 8(/. 
 Goombunga, Frederick Neville Isaac, 50,000 acres — .1^1 2 j 6s. Sif. 
 Westbrook, J. D. M'Lean and W. Beit, 113,722 acres— ^^628 14^. 
 Rosalie Plains, W. Kent, jun., and E. Wienholt, 100,000 acres — 
 
 Jingi Jingi, S. Murray, 128,000 acres--^2oS 6.f. 8,/. 
 Cooranga, T. J. P. and J. A. Bell, 125,000 acres— ^4 12. 
 
 K 2
 
 132 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 Jimbour, T. J. P. and J. A. Bell, 219,911 acres— ^685 3^. Sa. 
 
 Fairy Land, S. Murray, 17,280 acres — ^27. 
 
 Seven Oaks, ditto, 11,520 acres — ^18. 
 
 Canago, ditto, 20,480 acres— ;^32. 
 
 Pelican, ditto, 32,000 acres — £^0. 
 
 Irvingdale, K. Tooth, 88,154 acres— ;,^363 6j-. 8e/. 
 
 Tumaville, W. F. Gore and I\L B. Baldock, 130,000 acres — ^^478 
 
 14.?. 8(/. 
 Pilton, IL B. Fitz and \V. Wilson, 34,788 acres— ;;^i 53 8s. 
 Northbranch, W. F. Gore and INL B. Baldock, 80,720 acres — ;i^232. 
 Haldon, II. B. Fitz and W. Wilson, 43,295 acres— ;^i 18 6s. 8d. 
 Jondaryan, R. Tooth, 115,859 acres— ;£'523 65. 8^. 
 Cecil Plains, J. Taylor, 172,801 acres — ^405 6s. 8d. 
 Yandilla, W. F. Gore and M. B. Baldock, 229,360 acres— ^^708 
 
 2s. 8d. 
 Lagoon Creek Downs West, W. Kent, jun., and E. Wienholt, 
 
 21,760 acres — £^0. 
 With reference to those assessments the Queensland Times 
 says : ' The assessed rentals on certain stations on the Darling 
 Downs, which appear in another column, show that, for the next 
 five years, 1,800,000 acres of the best and most favourably sitiaated 
 land in the colony is to be held by its present occupants for about 
 ;^6,ooo per annum, or at a rate of a little over three farthings per 
 acre. We had expected something better than this — especially as 
 the idea of disposing of the fee simple of the poorest and the most 
 remote runs in the north at half a crown an acre has been so scorn- 
 fully scouted. And yet half a crown an acre purchase money would 
 be equal (even at only five per cent.) to three halfpence an acre per 
 annum, or just double what Mr. Gregory calls on the occupiers of 
 the " garden of the colony " to pay for the next five years. There 
 is something rotten in the state of Queensland. No doubt the pre- 
 sent rental of these runs is a great advance on what was paid before, 
 but this is nothing to the point. The rents of runs in South 
 Australia, with fewer advantages than the Downs stations of 
 Queensland enjoy, were some time since assessed at about sixpence 
 an acre per annum, and this rental, in many instances, is now being 
 paid. We regard these Queensland valuations as disgraceful. Six- 
 pence an acre per annum would have been a moderate rent. The 
 most miserable run in the colony, however distant from port, will 
 have to pay a halfpenny per acre per annum ; and yet these stations, 
 with railways being made to their gates, and enjoying every advan-
 
 SQUATTING 133 
 
 tage, are only to pay an average rental of three farthings. It has 
 been said that the lessees will probably not give up their leases, 
 but accept of the appraisement, and we rather incline to the same 
 opinion. ' 
 
 The whole subject of .squatting, in so far as 
 Queensland is concerned, is correctly stated in 
 the manifesto published by the Queensland Go- 
 vernment, one hundred and thirty thousand copies 
 of which have been circulated in Great Britain 
 for the information of intending emigrants. The 
 squattagcs are let on fourteen }'ears' leases, and 
 are to be revalued at that period. The rent 
 for the first four years is merely nominal, with a 
 view to the encouragement of enterprise in taking 
 up new country, and is increased according to 
 circumstances during the two .succeeding periods, 
 each one of which will be five years. The quantity 
 of country held in one block is limited to two 
 hundred square miles, and must be stocked with 
 sheep or cattle to the extent of one-fourth of its 
 estimated capabilities during the first year. Grass 
 lands ai-e estimated to carry and to fatten one hun- 
 dred sheep or twenty head of cattle per square mile. 
 The rent for the first four years is ten shillings per 
 square mile ; during the fii-st of the two succeeding 
 not less than 25/., nor more than 50/., per ' block' 
 of twenty-five square miles ; and, during the .second 
 period of five years, not less than 30/., nor more 
 than 70/. per block. 
 
 Some new faculty would actual 1}- seem to be 
 necessary to enable one to understand many 
 antipodean matters right!)-. It is somewhat strange,
 
 134 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 and indeed altogether outre to European compre- 
 hension, that while purchasers of land in many of 
 the Australian colonies will be required to reside 
 on their property, and not be permitted to purchase 
 more than three hundred and twenty acres, the 
 squatter may hold possession of hundreds of 
 thousands of acres here, there, and everywhere, 
 whilst he may reside in Sydney, Paris, London, 
 or, indeed, anywhere he may choose. In the 
 case of these absentees and large holders of 
 Crown land, there are evils connected with squat- 
 ting which cannot be easily defended, as in the 
 case when one man holds as much land as 
 would provide for the comfortable settlement of 
 hundreds of families. Thorough master of the 
 art of avoiding expense, the squatter very fre- 
 quently takes no interest of any kind in 
 the individuals and the families in his employ- 
 ment. A few tumble-down bark huts may be 
 all that represents the homestead of a property 
 valued at twenty or thirty thousand pounds. One 
 of these large holders of Crown lands, a partner in 
 a company, boasted to mc that he and his partners 
 could send into market every year twelve thousand 
 head of fat cattle, independently of spare stock, 
 such as 'boilers,' i.e., cattle only fit for boiling 
 down. Australia was surely intended for other 
 purposes than the enriching of a few individuals. 
 The Crown lands are very frequently, in Govern- 
 ment phrase, styled ' the waste lands of the Crown.' 
 They cannot, however, with propriety be called 
 waste lands, for they arc applied to the only
 
 SQUAITliNd 135 
 
 purpose, speaking of them in general, to which they 
 can ever be apph'ed, grazing. Hundreds of miles 
 of country may be travelled over, and not as much 
 good land seen as would make a cabbage-garden 
 or a ten-acre field for cultivation. If there is no 
 favourable oi^inion to be entertained of absentees, 
 credit is due to those squatters who do reside on 
 their stations, giving employment to domestic 
 servants, labourers and their families. Those men 
 carry civilisation with them into the bush, and they 
 will alwa)'s be found alive and ready to lend a 
 helping hand to every good work which may be 
 going on around them ; and the fact is worthy of 
 mention, that they are uniformly distinguished for 
 unbounded kindness and hospitalit}' to clergymen. 
 Stations are of greater or less size, and, as I have 
 remarked, they change hands very frequently. 
 When they arc sold, the usual i:)ractice is by 
 public auction of the sheep, cattle, and horses upon 
 the station at .so much per head — the station, with 
 all the improvements given in, stores, drays, and all 
 that is used in the working of the estate, taken 
 at valuation. The prices seem to be regulated 
 by the prices of wool and tallow in the London 
 market. Stations are sometimes sold, however, 
 without stock, though somewhat rarely. An owner 
 of -several squattages, in whose house I was staying, 
 incidentally mentioned in my hearing to a gentle- 
 man beside him, that he had purchased ' the B k 
 
 Run sheep at twenty-five shillings a-head.' This 
 was enormous, as the selling price of sheep was 
 not more than eight or ten shillings a-hcad. .An
 
 136 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 explanation ensued — it proved to be an A i run, 
 and would carry fifty thousand sheep : there were 
 only twenty thousand sheep upon it. 
 
 The following advertisement, published in 
 the Sydney Morning Herald, of a station for sale, 
 belonging to a resident squatter, and situated in 
 the Alpine regions, where the climate is favourable 
 for English gardening and agriculture, contains 
 much information of the minutiae of squatting : 
 
 RICHARDSON and WRENCH have received instructions to 
 Sell by Auction, at the Rooms, Pitt Street, Sydney, on 
 Tuesday, the 27th day of March next, 
 At II o'clock. 
 
 For Positive Sale, 
 TENTERFIELD. 
 
 *^* Stores, Drays, Teams, Working Horses, Implements, 
 Machinery, and all belongings necessary for carrying on such 
 an important property, to be taken by valuation in the usual 
 way by arbitration. 
 
 Terms Liberal. 
 
 One-fourth Cash, residue by bills at 1,2, and 3 years' date, bearing 
 interest at the rate of 3 per cent, per annum, secured on the 
 property by mortgage in the usual way. 
 Tenterfield is entitled to a lease for five years, from ist January 
 1866, at £1^0 per annum. 
 
 Application has been made to the Government to set apart water 
 reser\'es for the use of the back country, and to protect said re- 
 serves from free selection. The aiiplications arc in course of being 
 granted.
 
 SQUATTING 137 
 
 TENTERFIELD. 
 
 This station is sitimteil on ilie table-land of New England, on 
 the head of the Severn River, or Tenterfield Creek, and no miles 
 from the shipping pott of Grafton, to which there is a very good 
 road. Some part of the country consists of open plains, the prin- 
 cipal portion being lightly timliered, well grassed, undulating ridges, 
 and on all parts of the run are well-sheltered ridges. 
 
 It contains an area of about 180,000 acres, and is estimated as 
 capable of depasturing 35,000 sheep and 2,500 cattle and their 
 yearly increase in all seasons. 
 
 The i.Mi'ROVEMKNis at the head-station comprise a commodious 
 and handsome cottage resilience, containing nine rooms, and 
 verandahs, arranged and finished in superior style ; a well -stocked 
 garden, orchard, and vineyard ; also, a beautiful grove of English 
 forest trees. 
 
 The outbuildings include kitchen and servants' rooms, laundry, 
 stores, five-stall stable, groom's quarters, harness rooms, coach- 
 house, &c. 
 
 Among the other improvements are the following: Woolshed, 
 100 feet long, shingled, with sawn and slabbed floor, battened 
 catching-pens, powerful screw-press, sheep-room capable of holding 
 1,500 sheep, shingled, and the necessary yards attached. ^Yash- 
 pool, with yards, large brick-built store, containing office and six 
 other compartments, one of which is used for storing wool, and one 
 for wheat, &c. Storekeeper's cottage of four rooms, with kitchen 
 and meat-house. Blacksmiths' and carpenters' shops, men's huts, 
 mostly built of brick, small stockyard, horse ditto, milking ditto, 
 slaughtering ditto, &c., boiling-down establishment, with the 
 necessary pots, yards, and other conveniences. Grass paddock, 
 subdivided, of about 400 acres. Cultivation-paddock, of about 
 100 acres. 
 
 At the cattle-station, are 
 
 Large stock-yard, with spaying-pens, herding paddock, grass 
 ditto, of about 50 acres, subdivided. Dairy, stockmen's huts, ^:c. , 
 and 
 
 At the sheep-stations. 
 
 Fifteen huts, with the necessary yards to each, and hurdles for 
 lambing, all now in full working order. 
 
 With the Tenterfield Station will be included 320 Acres 
 OF Purchased Land, on which the head-station improvements
 
 I3S AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 are erected. The following arc the stock which will be sold with 
 the station, viz. : 
 
 Sheep. — 2,218 ewes, i| years old. 
 
 2,803 ditto, 2^ do., with lambs at foot. 
 
 2,6oS ditto, 3^ ditto. 
 
 1,257 ditto, 4^ ditto. 
 
 3,558 ditto, 4Aand Si ditto. 
 
 703 ditto, ditto, ditto, ditto, a stud flock. 
 1,127 ditto, 6 and upwards. 
 
 6,788 wethers, mixed sexes, in about equal proportions. 
 1,158 mixed ages and sexes. 
 2,121 wethers, i| years old. 
 1,311 ditto, 2| ditto. 
 1,396 ditto, 3| ditto. 
 1,510 ditto, 43 ditto. 
 1,004 rams, i| ditto, to aged. 
 
 Total : 29,562 more or less. 
 
 Cattle 2,800, more or less, a mixed herd. 
 
 Implements, in which are included reaping machine, thrashing 
 ditto, winnowing ditto, ploughs, harrows, &c., tools of various 
 kinds, stores, about 1,000 bushels of wheat or flour therefrom, 
 stack of oaten hay, about 8 tons, and about 70 bushels of maize. 
 
 The sheep are free from all contagious diseases. They are of 
 very superior quality, and yield a heavy clip. Great expense has 
 been incurred in introducing the choicest rams procurable ; of the 
 present stock of rams, 5 are purebred Rambouillet, 7 pure German, 
 and all imported. About one-half the flock are young sheep, the 
 progeny of the imported rams and stud ewes that have been care- 
 fully selected. Others are bred from the celebrated Glengallan, 
 Rosenthal, and other first-class flocks. A large proportion of the 
 Tenterfield clip averaged in London, in the last August sales, over 
 2s. per lb., the wool being only hand-washed. The sheep have 
 been regularly classed, and the rejected and old ones sold off every 
 year.
 
 '39 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 GOLD-DIGGING 
 
 Distribution of Gold -Prospecting A Rush -Life at the Diggings 
 — Modes of Searching— Different Kinds of Gold— A Persistent 
 Digger- Quartz and Quartz Rocks — Diamonds and Precious 
 Stones -An English Gold-Mining Company -Exploding Un- 
 necessarily - Gold Escort Lucky Diggers — Old Convict 
 Diggers Wandering and Unsettled Life at the Diggings- 
 American Traders— A Cargo of Coffins — Chinese Settlers, and 
 Chinese Swindlers — Introduction and Permanence of Gold- 
 Digging -Unsatisfactory Mode of Life of Diggers. 
 
 Dame Fortune would seem, at some time or 
 other, to have been carcerini;- in a chariot over the 
 summits of the Australian Alps, sowing as she 
 went handsful of gold dust, and i)ieces of gold ; but 
 all that she scattered thus bears no proportion to 
 the quantities which, as if she had been blind- 
 folded, she permitted to escape from her chariot as 
 it coursed along in a zigzag way, apparently with- 
 out any deteriTiinate route or boundary, the gold 
 running out from the chariot in streaks and 
 patches, like meal, or wheat, on the road in the 
 line of travelling of a dray filled with badly-tied 
 sacks. The illustration is not precisely accurate, 
 however, for the treasm-c is buried in the soil ;
 
 I40 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 but it may serve to convey some idea of the dis- 
 tribution of t^old. It is scarcely possible to wash 
 a tin dishful of earth, sand, or gravel, in the 
 gold-producing tracts of country, without dis- 
 covering a minute particle of gold, a speck just 
 large enough for the eye to discern in the bottom 
 of the dish, after all the earth, gravel, or sand has 
 been carefull)- washed out, the gold, in consequence 
 of its greater weight, always sinking to the bottom. 
 This is called 'prospecting,' and the number of 
 specks in the bottom of the dish determines the 
 richness or the poverty of the soil in gold. Pro- 
 specting is not confined to the surface of the ground, 
 however, as a hole, several feet in length, is 
 generally dug, or a shaft may sometimes be sunk 
 in the same way as in sinking for a well, to test 
 the ground underneath. Rewards are given to the 
 discoverers of new gold-fields, and a bonus of 
 several ' claims ' granted of the gold-field which 
 they have discovered. If a ' rich prospect ' is fallen 
 upon, and the ground is found to be payable, a new 
 gold-field is said to have been discovered, and 
 there is nothing wanting but ' diggers ' to make 
 matters ' go a-head.' If any of them are reported 
 to be ' doing well,' and especially if any of them 
 make ' large finds,' the news from the new gold-field 
 is spread far and wide with the speed of lightning. 
 Storekeepers, innkeepers, and others in the neigh- 
 bourhood, on the main thoroughfares leading to 
 the locality, and all others interested in the new 
 field, give the most flattering accounts of how much 
 this, and how much that party has made ; all being
 
 (^.OLD-nir,(,iNG 141 
 
 stalctl with L;"rcat acciiruc)', to save themselves 
 from the risk of some rather unpleasant conse- 
 quences which have sometimes fcjllowed from 
 diggers who have come from long distances running 
 foul of, and awarding merciless punishment to, 
 those who gave false or exaggerated information. 
 The news from the new gold-field, which is heralded 
 by the press principally on the authority of local 
 correspondents, brings a ' rush ' towards it. ' Dis- 
 tance lends enchantment to the view ; ' and it is 
 very frequently observed that those gold-diggers 
 who have been remote and unsuccessful are 
 the first to arrive at the new gold-field. Whilst 
 traversing a bush-track, where there were not 
 more than twelve grown-up persons residing 
 within sixty miles length of country, two men, 
 hangers-on at a wayside, or, as jt is frequently 
 termed, an ' accommodation-house,' where I halted 
 for the night, took to the work of ' prospecting,' 
 discovered a rich prospect, found a cradle, com- 
 menced washing in the usual manner, and made 
 large earnings. The news soon spread abroad, and 
 within three weeks there were about fifteen hundred 
 persons collected within half a mile length of a 
 creek where the two men had been working. The 
 sudden change was ver}- surprising, and it would be 
 difficult to imagine any other circumstance save the 
 discovery of gold which could have attracted so 
 large a population, within so brief a period, into 
 Nature's previously almost untenanted domain. 
 There was no road, merely bush tracks leading 
 from station to station very high and steep
 
 142 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 mountains had to be crossed, ascended and de- 
 scended ; some parts were very thickly timbered, 
 whilst creeks and gullies opposed, one would 
 have thought, almost insurmountable obstacles 
 to traffic. Gold ! what will the love of gold not 
 lead men to do? Hardships, dangers, difficul- 
 ties, all the great bugbears which make people 
 shrink from doing what they are not inclined to 
 do, seemed all to disappear like an idle dream. 
 Provisions were sold at an enormously high price. 
 If eight bullocks could not ascend the mountain 
 with a loaded dray, twenty-four with a half-loaded 
 dray might, and must ; one team assisting the 
 other, the bullocks stimulated by endless .shouting, 
 their drivers, worked to the highest pitch of 
 fren2:ied excitement, goading them, at the same 
 time, with the butt-end of their whip handles. One 
 by one the loaded drays, slowly, but perseveringly, 
 reach their destination ; up and down hill, through 
 deep ravines in the mountains, over gullies, creeks, 
 and swamps, assistance is always readily given by 
 the one to the other. An Australian bullock- 
 driver seems to flinch at nothing in travelling with 
 his dray. No matter how rough and mountainous 
 the country may be, if the bullocks can stand on 
 their feet, he will make them take the dray after 
 them. It is a marvellous sight when they are 
 coming down the face of a steep mountain, 
 with a heavy load ; but on a closer view one sees 
 that the apparently difficult operation is adroitly 
 managed by means of a heavy tree attached behind 
 the dray, trailing on the ground. Bullock-drivers
 
 (•.OLi)-i)i(;r,iN(; 143 
 
 have more than a little of the arduous work in cc^n- 
 ncction with t^old-diggin<^ ; and it is to be hoped 
 that their usual hea\y charges compensate for their 
 toil and adventure. They are the carriers on 
 the road ; there are numbers who are their own 
 carriers, and are provided with horses and carts 
 which contain all the necessary supi^lies of tools 
 and provisions. In the line of a ' rush,' and in the 
 great cavalcade of men on horseback, with their 
 blankets strapped before them on their saddles, 
 thc)^ are very conspicuous. The pedestrians are 
 by far the most numerous, however ; they have all 
 their s^cur^son their backs ; some carry shovels and 
 picks, whilst others, grudging the labour of carrying 
 utensils, and relying on purchasing them from 
 the storekeepers, are without them. There are 
 vehicles, too, of every description, to be met with, 
 forming what seems to be an endless procession, 
 as if some entire settlement had broken up, or the 
 people were all hastening away from a plague ; 
 and not the least marked feature in the ' rush,' and 
 ceaseless stream of human life, are the neatly tilted 
 carts, in which arc comfortably housed mothers 
 and their young families, with their goods and 
 chattels. The worst of it is to come. There is a 
 risk, a troublesome anticipation that John, the 
 father of the family, and his two partners, Peter 
 and James, who accompany the cart, might not 
 strike upon a ' good claim ' There is some con- 
 solation, however, derived from the thought of 
 having no house, no fuel, and no water to pay for ; 
 besides, there is plenty of fresh air, beef and
 
 144 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 mutton arc usually cheap, and, if the wife is an 
 industrious woman, she can provide for herself and 
 live independently of her husband's earnings, by 
 doing washing and cooking for diggers ; hence there 
 is nothing to prevent the family from enjoying many 
 domestic comforts. Where a family is residing, a 
 plot of ground is very frequently observed near the 
 dwelling, which is fenced, and cultivated as a 
 garden. In addition, many of the diggers' families 
 have cows and carry on dairy work. Houses of 
 every conceivable construction are ' run up ' in a 
 very short time ; timber being usually abundant, 
 whilst the bark of trees serves to cover the roor of 
 ' shanty,' ' log-house,' ' hut,' ' house,' or by whatever 
 name the erection is called. Stores and inns are 
 of a more pretentious character, and some expense 
 is incurred in the use of sawn timber in flooring 
 and weather-boarding those establishments. Calico 
 tents are the prevailing house accommodation, 
 however, being easily erected, and as easily 
 removed. Without perhaps a single exception, 
 a ' claim,' which may be about the size of a 
 cottage garden staked out by the Gold Commis- 
 sioner and his officials, is taken up and worked 
 by a ' party.' The party may consist of three, 
 four, six, or eight persons, all well known to, and 
 having confidence in, each other, and between 
 whom disagreements very rarely take place. 
 
 A gold-field is a place of bustling industr)^ 
 Every one seems to be intent on his own affairs, 
 and indifferent to those of others, whilst there is an 
 appearance of order, quietness, and regularity ob-
 
 (iOLD-DICCINC. US 
 
 served, which would sui prise mail}' who hax'c con- 
 jured up in their iina^inations such scenes of 
 wildncss and disorderHness as the\' may have read 
 of in public prints. Lines of streets may be some- 
 times passed, and the eye be ijreeted with all those 
 designations on sign-boards, such as tailor, shoe- 
 maker, watchmaker, bank, baker, surgeon, 6cc., 
 which are to be met with in an)' large town, with- 
 out a single omission. 
 
 There is ' rowd\-ism ' to be witnessed sometimes 
 no doubt, especially on Saturday nights, when 
 groups of men gather round public-hou.ses, some of 
 them 'knocking down their money' and 'giving 
 shouts,' but this remark is very far from applicable 
 to the general character of the digging population. 
 There are many most respectable persons and 
 families to be met with at a gold field ; many who 
 have received the highest education in schools and 
 universities, who have always moved in spheres of 
 good society, and who are in no way ashamed of 
 their emplo}-ment ; a life, as I have heard some of 
 them sa}', of entire freedom and independence. As 
 a bod}', indeed, the diggers might compare favour- 
 abl}' with an}' of the other labouring classes in the 
 communit}'. 
 
 At some of the fields there are parties to be 
 seen finding gold in a manner A\'hich any one 
 sufficiently able to handle a pick and shovel would 
 seem competent for, there being mere digging and 
 washing of sand, cla}', and gravel, in the beds of 
 water-courses, with ' surfacing.' In the process of 
 ' surfacing,' the earth on the surface is dug one, two, 
 
 L
 
 146 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 or three feet, thrown into a cart or wheelbarrow, 
 and cast into a trough, into which water is conducted 
 and kept constantly running. The earth, clay, and 
 gravel, is continually stirred, by means of shovels 
 and forks, by two men ; and the gold, usually in 
 very small quantities, about the size of threepenny 
 pieces, falls to the bottom of the trough, and escapes 
 along with small stones through a sheet of perforated 
 iron at the further extremity. Large holes like 
 gravel pits may also be frequently seen, in which 
 the same operation is gone through with the gravel, 
 earth, or- clay, which may have been dug out of 
 them. This is called ' shallow sinking.' By far 
 the most common, and it may therefore be supposed 
 to be the most remunerative method of finding 
 gold, however, is sinking shafts (' deep sinking ' as 
 it is termed), and the preliminary labour in this 
 case is similar to that of sinking for a well, the 
 object being to come upon the original deposits — 
 Dame Fortune's streaks and patches. The work 
 in this case is of a most laborious nature, and only 
 such persons as Cornish miners, who, by the way, 
 have proved themselves to be first-rate hands at 
 gold-digging, and others who have made mining an 
 occupation and a study, are properly competent for 
 the task. A practical knowledge of geology is also 
 necessary ; and this every one learns quickly at the 
 diggings from those two excellent teachers, ob- 
 servation and experience. The ' bed-rock ' is a 
 favourite word with the diggers, being the depth to 
 which the shaft is sunk, and beyond which there is 
 no labour required in sinking deeper ; the shaft is
 
 GOLD-DICGINC . 147 
 
 said to be ' bottomed ' when the bed-rock has been 
 struck. The bed-rock reached, all that is necessary 
 is to scrape with a trowel the sand and gravel which 
 may be upon it, also the washing-stuff and what- 
 ever may be the thickness of the deposit ; the 
 material is then put into a bucket as it is collected ; 
 and, when the bucket is filled, it is attached to a 
 rope hanging down the mouth of the shaft, and is 
 drawn up by the man who is stationed at the wind- 
 lass. This washing-stuff is destined to go through 
 the same process as all other washing-stuffs ; but 
 in most cases it is put into ' cradles.' A great 
 quantity of gold has sometimes been found in one 
 of these bucketfuls after it has been washed ; and 
 when the ' claim ' is rich, great care is taken of the 
 washing-stuff after it reaches the surface, and is 
 thrown into a heap beside the mouth of the shaft, 
 in case night prowlers might make free with it. 
 The process of tunnelling is carried on underneath, 
 on the surface of the bed-rock, and to the same 
 extent as the claim abo\e. There is danger in this 
 part of the operation, and lives have been lost from 
 want of proper attention to the use of props for 
 preventing the earth and .stones from falling down 
 overhead. Shafts are of various depths, according 
 to the elevation or depression of the much-famed 
 bed-rock, or the height and depth of the stratifica- 
 tion of sand, gravel, or clay, in which the gold is 
 found. Boulders of granite and solid rock have to 
 be pierced through frequently, and blasting with 
 gunpowder at great depths is not the least risk to 
 the life of the gold shaft-sinker ; water may also
 
 148 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 come in at times and stop operations altogether, 
 whilst fresh air must be pumped down the shaft 
 continually, to enable the digger to breathe freely in 
 his narrow and confined cell. One man told me 
 that he had been in a shaft six hundred feet deep. 
 Next to the bed-rock, the ' lead of gold ' is the 
 great object of the shaft-sinker. If he has been 
 fortunate in striking on the gold, there is a course 
 or a direction in which it can be followed, and he 
 is successful so long as he can follow the ' lead,' but 
 if he loses the ' lead ' all his labour is lost. A shaft 
 may be sunk at very great expense — month after 
 month being occupied in the work, and all of no 
 avail. Even if the digger strikes the bed-rock, he 
 may not strike the lead of gold, and in this case it 
 is called a ' shicer,' a most ominous term with 
 diggers. 
 
 There is a great amount of business done in 
 shares of claims. A party of diggers may not have 
 the pecuniary means to enable them to go to the 
 bottom of the shaft, but storekeepers, and others 
 who are possessed of money, are ' wide-awake,' and 
 are always ready to have a chance of reaping a rich 
 golden harvest easily, by advancing money to the 
 party, and receiving in return a share in their claim. 
 The washing-stuff is usually dug out before washing 
 commences ; and those interested are present at the 
 close of the day's labour for the purpose of seeing 
 the drawer, or wooden box, into which the gold has 
 fallen in the process of rocking the cradle. If a 
 man lifted a piece of gold out of the cradle, or 
 washing-stuff, unknown to the other men of the
 
 GOLD-IMC.CIXC 149 
 
 [);irt)-, it would be regarded as a serious misde- 
 meanour. Such occurrences are rarely, if ever, 
 heard of, liowever. There are many singular stories 
 told by the diggers of their ' claims.' After having 
 exi)endcd all their money in sinking a shaft, they 
 sometimes lose hope of ever coming to the bed-rock, 
 and occasionally sell their rights. The party who 
 purchase, however, after having sunk one or two 
 feet deeper, very often strike on a rich deposit of 
 gold. The gold differs very much in its size and 
 form, and one hears of ' fine,' or ' gold-dust,' ' scaly,' 
 and ' rough,' according to the character of the 
 country in which it is found. The fine, or gold- 
 dust, is found in granite country, where there are 
 no quartz rocks ; the ' scaly,' where cjuartz and slate 
 are intermixed ; and the ' rough,' where quartz 
 predominates. When the gold has the appearance 
 of being much water-worn, and thinly diffused, it 
 is called ' drift gold' ; and it is understood that there 
 is some deposit, or bed of gold, from which it has 
 come. To alight upon these deposits is the great 
 object of research and attention on the part of 
 gold-diggers. A man, or a party, might do, as I 
 used to see one man do — old Bill Cowpers (whom 
 I knew as a bullock-driver, before the diggings were 
 heard of) — dig away at the side of a mountain and 
 'chance it.' Very few of the diggers, however, 
 would chance it as Hill did : he never seemed to 
 move from the place where he first commenced. 
 Perhaps it was very inconxenient for him to shift, as 
 he had an aboriginal woman li\ing with him, which 
 might be a potent reason for his al\va\'s remaining
 
 I50 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 at one place. Bill had evidently great faith in the 
 mountain. Six months might elapse, and with all 
 his labour he would not get any gold apparently ; 
 he never seemed in any way desirous, however, 
 continued always dig, digging in the side of the 
 mountain, and washing, with the assistance of the 
 aboriginal woman, the gravel and clay which he 
 collected as carefully as if he had been getting gold 
 all the time. A lad who assisted him on one 
 occasion, when he came upon a rich spot, said, how- 
 ever, that he had got six hundred pounds' worth, 
 and that it would keep him and his ' gin ' a long 
 time. Bill had been about twelve years beside his 
 hole in the mountain, when I saw him last, and he 
 is likely to die there. 
 
 Farts of country may be met with which are 
 entirely covered with quartz ; ridges,hills, mountains, 
 and valleys, where the grass is short, or has been 
 recently burnt, glistening in the sun, as if covered 
 with snow. Where there is quartz, however, there 
 is not necessarily gold, and no universal rule of any 
 kind would seem to be applicable for enabling one 
 to find the eagerly-sought-for metal. Strong indi- 
 cations of its presence may be found, however, in 
 one place more than another, from the quartz having 
 the appearance of being much burnt ; and also from 
 the presence of rounded pebbles, calcined stones, 
 black sand, or emery patches — garnets, sapphires, 
 &c., lying on the surface. There is a sign held out 
 in such cases to dig, but one might dig a long time 
 without finding more than a few specks in a tin 
 dishful of earth or gravel ; he might be fortunate.
 
 GOLD-DIGGING 151 
 
 too, however, as I saw one man who had come upon 
 a nug^^et as larj^e as a child's fist, about a foot 
 beneath the surface of the ground. News of this 
 kind spreads fast. There had been a few instances 
 of the same kind ; hundreds and thousands of people 
 were soon attracted to the spot ; a Gold Com- 
 missioner, with his staff of officials arrived, and 
 claims were taken up. It was no better, however, 
 than a lotter)' ; for one who was successful there 
 were twenty unsuccessful, whilst the majority of the 
 people went away poorer than they came. They 
 might have been more successful, and the new gold- 
 field ' gone ahead,' had water been more plentiful. 
 Without water, however, even a gold-field, however 
 rich, would seem to be almost valueless. 
 
 Quartz is said to be the matrix of gold, and 
 auriferous quartz is very often spoken of as the kind 
 of quartz in which the gold has been formed, and 
 still exists in its disintegrated state. This quartz 
 is sometimes discovered in the sides of mountains, 
 cropping out from beneath the surface, and the gold 
 is seen embedded in streaks and veins, in the most 
 minute particles, often just large enough to be seen 
 by the naked eye. ' Fosacking ' is the term given 
 to the employment of those who go about searching 
 for gold thus exposed on the surface of the ground, 
 and the tools of those persons consist merely of a 
 pocket-knife and a hammer. There is never much 
 hope entertained of the success of those who go a- 
 fosacking, however, and there arc very few who 
 think of it. 
 
 When a discovery of tiiis kind has been made —
 
 152 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 gold in the solid rock — which is termed 'quartz 
 reefs,' a company is immediately started for work- 
 ing it. Steam power and gear are necessary for 
 crushing the quartz, and a great amount of capital 
 is required for working the reefs to advantage. 
 Skill is often as much needed as capital, however, 
 and indeed, success depends altogether upon 
 proper management. Experience often comes too 
 late for correcting mistakes which have been made. 
 Besides quicksilver and blankets, there are various 
 appliances used to prevent the escape of the most 
 minute particle of gold from the crushed quartz in 
 the process of washing. Companies are not much 
 heard of at the gold-fields, however, save in con- 
 nection with quartz crushing. There are gold-fields 
 in which there are no quartz rocks, and where very 
 little quartz may be seen, though small pieces of 
 gold are always found amongst the sand and gravel. 
 The country on the surface is interspersed with 
 large bluffs and boulders of granite ; the gold, in 
 such cases, is very fine, and is very properly called 
 ' gold-dust,' being almost as fine as flour, whilst 
 one rarely sees particles as large as the smallest 
 pin-head. There is always the greatest abundance 
 of garnets and emery in the bottom of the cradle 
 or trough in which the gold is washed, and speci- 
 mens may be found of all the precious stones, 
 cairngorm, cornelian, agate, sapphire, emerald, 
 ruby, topaz, and many others ; and it would be 
 unjust to the writer — himself the bearer of the first 
 prospect of gold found in the northern diggings to 
 Sydney — to omit mention of the diamond. A
 
 r.oLi)-i)i(;GiNG 153 
 
 jeweller there, to whom I showed the prospect, 
 ])ointecl to u diamond among the small st(jnes 
 which were mixed with the g(jld. I menti(jncd 
 the circumstance to several diggers ; but the)- all 
 seemed to think more of gold than of diamonds. 
 There arc also many interesting objects of natural 
 science to be seen in the washing-stuff of the gold- 
 digger, not the least of which, perhaps, are many 
 varieties of petrified wood. 
 
 Steam power is used for other purposes besides 
 quartz-crushing. A gentleman invited me on one 
 occasion to look at his steam engine, which he had 
 employed in pumping water out of a large hole in 
 a creek beside a gold-field. He had thirty men 
 engaged, at the rate of ten shillings per day, in 
 shovelling the mud, sand, and gravel at the bottom 
 of the hole, as the water was pumped out, into 
 carts and wheelbarrows. A great amount of 
 ingenuity was displajed in making use of the 
 water pumped out, in washing the stuff that was 
 taken from the bottom of the hole. The }-cllow 
 grains of gold, when they were washed and sank 
 to the bottom, seemed to stream at one small 
 o[)cning of the trough as plentifully and as 
 regularly as flour from the spout of a mill, The 
 person alluded to had netted twelve thousand 
 pounds from the one water-hole. What one water- 
 hole had done, what might not another do ? so 
 dictated reason ; but there is neither reason nor 
 common sense sometimes in connection with the 
 finding of gold. He persevered, and persevered 
 again, until he had Icjst all his former earning.s.
 
 154 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 This talc is so common that the words, ' gain to- 
 day and lose to-morrow,' have almost passed into 
 a proverb. Perseverance at gold-digging, of all 
 known pursuits in the world, is the least likely to 
 be attended with success. 
 
 During the furore in England, produced by the 
 intelligence of gold-fields having been discovered 
 in Australia, several gold-mining companies were 
 started in London, with the usual announcements 
 of 'Provisional Committee,' ' Interim Secretary,' &c. 
 Shares were sold and resold, but what ultimately 
 became of some of the companies it might be 
 difficult to conjecture. There was one, however, 
 which should not have blown up so readily as it 
 did. No doubt, in this case, it was very dis- 
 heartening, after a very large expenditure of 
 money in the designing, purchase, and exportation 
 of machinery, and the payment of the passage 
 money of a large number of men, who were 
 engaged as servants of the company, to hear that 
 the machinery was of no use, after great expense in 
 dragging it a long way into the interior ; and that 
 the most of the hired servants had deserted as 
 soon as they had reached the shores of Australia. 
 A number of the men adhered to their engage- 
 ments, however, whilst a more trustworthy manager 
 of the company could not have been found any- 
 where than the one who had been engaged. The 
 position in which this gentleman found himself 
 placed was not very enviable— at least he said so 
 himself; as he could get no tidings whatever of his 
 employers. The company had broken up, and no
 
 GOLU-DI(U}IN(; 155 
 
 one would have anythinL( to do with him. ilc 
 accommodated himself to the situation, however — 
 set to work with the men who had remained, to 
 find i^old as others were finding; it. Success 
 attended his efforts, and at last he found himself 
 in possession of a lari^e quantity of fjold. Not at 
 all relishing; his somewhat questionable situation, 
 he decided on frcciiv^- him.sclf from the concern — 
 paid the men their waives, and the debts he had 
 incurred for the company. He kept the remain- 
 ini;- [jortion of j^old and returned to lMiL;land. It 
 may be interestinc]^ to the ' Provisional Committee ' 
 and ' Interim Secretary,' to know that their 
 machiner)- is still in L;ood order, and when I saw it 
 last, was still the cause of many curious inquiries 
 from passers-by, and the subject of endless con- 
 jectures as to its object. 
 
 It is not usual with the diggers, when they have 
 amassed a quantity of gold — made what they 
 designate a ' pile ' — to keep it in their possession 
 at the gold-fields ; though small quantities may be 
 freely parted with, and sold to bank-agents, store- 
 keepers, and others. They have all a correct 
 knowledge of the value of the precious metal, and 
 have scales for weighing it in their tents. The 
 ' Government gold escort,' a four-wheeled vehicle, 
 drawn by four horses, in which are seated armed 
 policemen, is entrusted with the conveyance of the 
 gold to the capital. The Gold Commissioner at 
 the gold-fields receives the packages (bags made 
 of chamois leather) from the diggers, bank-agents, 
 and others, for which he gives a duplicate or
 
 n;6 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 acknowledgment : and the packages, after being 
 duly sealed and registered, are forwarded by the 
 Government escort, as addressed, to the mint, bank, 
 merchants, or friends of the sender. 
 
 It is understood that the mint gives the same 
 weight in sovereigns as the weight in gold, the 
 alloy in the sovereigns defraying the expense of 
 coinage, and supplying the difference in value of 
 the coined and uncoined gold. The Government 
 always endeavours to reimburse itself for expenses 
 connected with the gold-fields, and the subject of 
 revenue is considered in the shape of a small export 
 duty on the gold. A ' miner's right ' of ten shillings 
 a year, and an escort fee, however, are charges that 
 have not much place in the mind, especially of the 
 lucky digger. 
 
 Robberies may be heard of sometimes ; but, 
 everything considered, they are of remarkably 
 rare occurrence. There is an overawing power in 
 a large assemblage of people. There are so many 
 eyes turned from every direction upon one, like an 
 eye of omnipresence and omniscience, that it is 
 almost impossible for a daylight robber to escape 
 detection ; besides, the diggers are not men to be 
 quarrelled with ; not one of them would think of 
 crying ' police '—every one learns, in every part of 
 Australia, and it becomes engrafted upon one's 
 very nature by habit and experience, never to 
 permit one's self to be robbed, to take good care 
 of whatever one is in possession of, and to offer no 
 temptation to any person whatever. There is no 
 small number of persons, however, ' loafers ' and
 
 COI.D-DIC.C.IXC. 157 
 
 ' hangcj;s-on,' who arc no better than children, as 
 they will take whatever they fancy, or whatever 
 they can lay their hands on, when they find they 
 can do so unobserved. ' Stolen waters are sweet,' 
 and there can be no doubt of the i^rcat pleasure 
 which they have in stealinc^. 
 
 When found in its native state, embedded in 
 the earth, and mixed with the soil, t^old in the 
 hands of many of the ch'i^tjers would seem to lose 
 all its adhesive properties. Spcakin^^ generally, 
 there is nothing with which peoi)lc are usually 
 found so loath to part with as gold. The truth of 
 the saying, ' lightly comes, lightly goes,' will not at 
 all apply, however, to the case of the digger, for 
 the gold is not easily found, very great labour 
 being required, and sometimes very great expense 
 incurred in finding it ; at least, such is the case in 
 most of the gold-diggings. ' Pains seek to be paid 
 in pleasures,' would seem to approach much nearer 
 the truth, and account for the amazing indifference 
 manifested b)- many of the diggers in taking care 
 of that of which they had so much difficulty in 
 acquiring possession. The life of personal dis- 
 comfort, the pangs of loss and disappointment, the 
 great uncertainty with which the mind has been 
 kept, as on a rack — all rebountl with great force 
 on the head of the lucky digger ; and success very 
 quickly passes into, and terminates in excess. 
 With nothing to live or hope for, w ith no views 
 extending be)-ond the present, without any previous 
 fixed habits of frugality, the majority of those who 
 were the first at the diggings— wonderfully sue-
 
 158 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 cessful old convicts — tlircvv^ away the money which 
 they had obtained for their gold, as if the pleasure 
 of throwing it away was the only motive which 
 the}' had in seeking for and finding gold ; and some 
 of them might have been heard telling, as I have 
 frequently heard them myself, in boastful language 
 and in rivalry one with another, how fast they could 
 throw it away, or ' knock it down,' as they termed 
 it. The mind sometimes cannot endure to be kept 
 brooding over that of which it feels its incapacity 
 to take any care and management ; whilst there is 
 a kind of relief experienced in getting rid of that 
 which would be a source of care and anxiety to 
 continue in possession of It was not till the last 
 sixpence was gone, that some men whom I knew 
 might be said to have returned to their normal 
 condition, and were fit for work. There is not an 
 inn of any description to be met with anywhere, in 
 which champagne does not figure prominently and 
 invitingly, with its peculiar glasses and bottles, the 
 name of the wine being marked in gilt, artistically- 
 formed letters on an emblazoned label. There is 
 a studied attention in such cases to supply a demand 
 of not unfrequent occurrence, that of men coming 
 to ' knock down ' their money — and it is always 
 the most expensive liquor which such men call for, 
 namely, champagne, for which they are charged 
 fifteen or twenty shillings per bottle ; but this will 
 not satisfy, and nothing will satisfy them but a 
 ' shout for all hands,' every one within hearing 
 being asked to partake. Some of them, in this 
 state of mind, have been known to light their pipes
 
 r,OLi)-i)i(".c.iN(; 159 
 
 with bank-notes — an illustration of consuming 
 vanity and ostentation, and a manner of ;^n-atifyin^i; 
 the love of display of wealth, which mis^ht fairly 
 claim the merit of defyin<^ ail competition. 
 
 Those who continue to lead a wandering" and 
 unsettled life, notwithstanding- the most solid quali- 
 ties of heart and mind, which would admirabK- 
 qualify them for taking an honourable place, and 
 attaining success in the many pursuits in the great 
 mart of the world's industr)-, are apt to become so 
 cntirel)' changed in character as to be almost unfit 
 for any settled occupation. Everything seems to 
 ha\'e got out of joint with them — they are restless 
 and dissatisfied — locomotion, like some poisonous 
 ingredient instilled into their veins, infects their 
 whole constitution of mind and body, and it is to 
 very little purpose that an antidote is administered, 
 in the shape of the advice, ' a rolling stone gathers 
 no moss.' There are chances waiting them yet ; 
 they must go, will go, and would continue going 
 until the end of the chapter of this earthly exist- 
 ence, were it not for the strcMig claims which the 
 great law of necessity imposes upon them, and 
 which compels them to go no longer when they 
 are not able to go. The greatest and saddest 
 drawback of the gold-digging life, besides the un- 
 certainty which attends it, is the wandering and 
 un.settled mode of existence, which seems to be 
 almost inseparable from it. A claim may turn out 
 very well, but it is apt to get worked out ; another 
 claim is taken up, and it may turn out a * shicer ' ; 
 then there are other gold-fields, where the diggers
 
 i6o AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 are reported to be doing better, or a new gold-field 
 is discovered, and there is always the hope of being 
 more successful, so that the life of chance, like ' a 
 Will-o'-the-wisp,' leads the unlucky digger from 
 place to place ; and it is not trifling earnings of 
 gold which he learns to be contented with. Seven 
 or ten shillings a day would be thought very 
 indifferently of, and would be said to be 'nothing.' 
 Every one practically acquainted with the gold- 
 fields will advise young men to be cautious before 
 engaging in the pursuit of gold-digging, or may 
 urge them not to think of it. It is a most perilous 
 situation for them — a life of the direst temptation. 
 A man may be damaged in body, heart, and mind, 
 much in the same way as a carriage may be 
 damaged by bad usage in being taken from the 
 beaten public highway, and made to jolt over ruts 
 and rough, broken ground, the risk and the damage 
 to the carriage being greater when it is built of 
 green and unseasoned timber. It is almost im- 
 possible for young men to take that amount of 
 care of themselves at the gold-fields which is 
 necessary for their well-being. Personal discomfort 
 and unpalatable diet are matters of no slight con- 
 sideration, as depravity of living has an affinity of 
 attraction for every other kind of depravity. Man 
 is an expensive being, and it will not do to treat 
 one's .self cheaply. A life of excitement, irregu- 
 larity, and uncertainty, without any of the advan- 
 tages of improving social intercourse, are also 
 matters of no slight consideration. New and 
 strange faces start up, a new scene of life is entered
 
 GOLD-DIGGING i6i 
 
 on, and youn^ men of pliable natures w ill ever be 
 prone to yield, succumb, and accommodate them- 
 selves to circumstances, very bad circumstances, 
 indeed, amid the great disturbing forces of gain, 
 loss, and disappointment, added to the evil of 
 working in slush, under the heat of the midday 
 sun, with the constitution taxed above its natural 
 strength. Hence there is always a ready recourse 
 to ardent spirits for quelling the mental and bodily 
 disturbance, and the practice is apt to become 
 habitual, as the necessities of the hour and moment 
 tend to supersede and to extinguish all other 
 considerations. 
 
 The Yankees are remarkable for their adapta- 
 tion to circumstances, for fertility of resources, 
 and for singular talent in pushing and ' going 
 ahead.' They are enterprising traders, and all the 
 Southern Pacific Ocean, and various shipping- 
 ports, bear evidence of their commercial industry, 
 in the interchange of signals and such inquiries 
 between vessels on approaching each other on 
 the wide ocean, as ' Cargo? '' Where bound for.'' 
 Passengers on board British vessels are familiar 
 with the names of Boston, New York, and other 
 ports in America, and the phrase, ' American 
 notions,' in the answer given as to the cargo. 
 ' American notions ' consist of an immense variety 
 of articles of merchandise which the United States 
 seem to hold the prescriptive right of manufac- 
 ture, such as cheap household, farming, and digging 
 utensils, buggies, clocks, and many other things 
 extensively used in the Australian colonies. Com- 
 
 M
 
 i62 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 municativciicss and inquisitiveness are nearly re- 
 lated ; they seem to be excellent auxiliaries in 
 that industrious art, the ' pursuit of knowledge 
 under difficulties,' and no one would seem better 
 qualified to enlist them in his service than a 
 Yankee trader. When gold-digging commenced 
 in California, the writer was staying at an hotel in 
 Wellington, New Zealand, where a Yankee trader 
 was also staying. Seated at the dining-table, the 
 latter was discoursing of the business he was doing 
 very largely and most benignantly to some other 
 seafaring men, to whom he was occasionally putting 
 questions. Captains of vessels are known to do 
 a good deal of business on their own account, 
 in addition to taking charge of their ships and 
 cargoes, and it might be useful to hear what might 
 concern them. There was not much to arrest 
 attention until the Yankee trader, with a touch of 
 bravado, made the astounding announcement of 
 his intention to take a cargo of coffins ! ' Coffins ! 
 a cargo of coffins ! ' every one at table seemed to 
 say, at the same time looking most demurely at 
 the Yankee trader, as if he and his brig, the fast 
 sailing of which he was always boasting of, were 
 the veritable Charon and his boat ! An explanation 
 ensued. ' Coffins,' he said, ' are selling high just 
 now in California ; I took,' he continued, 'a cargo 
 of potatoes from this to San Francisco when I was 
 here last ; they all went to smash before I got to 
 the Sacramento. I have returned for another 
 cargo, and I calculate, by putting them into coffins, 
 having all the carpenters I can get here making
 
 GOLD-Dir.CIXr, 163 
 
 them, I'll land the [)otatoes safcl)-, and make an 
 almighty dollar of the two!' To such an ingenious, 
 money-making, and enterprising race of people 
 the gold-fields of AiistraHa could not fail to present 
 attractions. At first, it must be confessed, they 
 made themselves very obnoxious to the peaceably 
 disposed portion of the people, in spouting re- 
 publicanism, and exciting to rebellion against the 
 British Government ; and they all seemed to be 
 dubbed majors, or captains, in virtue of the military 
 rank which they held in the United States. Inter- 
 meddling with political affairs was rather a work 
 of supererogation on their part, as there was the 
 people's great champion and leader in Sydney 
 espousing the cause of separation, and crying ' Cut 
 the painter ! ' quoting on all occasions, as he con- 
 tinues to do still, American institutions as a text- 
 book for instruction and guidance, and endeavour- 
 ing to make every one believe, as he seems 
 profoundly in the belief himself, that whatever is 
 American is divine. The era of responsible 
 government, and the advent of manhood suffrage, 
 must have reconciled the Yankees to the countr\-, 
 however, as they were never afterwards heard of 
 as meddling with politics. They were engaged 
 more profitably to themselves and others, in intro- 
 ducing, if not inventing, various mechanical con- 
 trivances for facilitating the labour of digging for 
 and washing gold. There was one gold-field with 
 a population of nearly three thousand people, all 
 in some way or other dependent on the diggings, 
 where everything was at a deadlock from the want 
 
 M 2
 
 i64 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 of water to wash the earth in which the gold was 
 found ; nothing daunted, a number of American 
 citizens formed themseh'es into a company, and 
 entered into arrangements with the Gold Com- 
 missioners and the Government for the privilege 
 of selling water to the diggers. A water-course 
 was dug, communicating with a running stream 
 far out of reach, a ' race ' (as the water-course 
 is called) was formed, winding round and round 
 for fourteen miles, thus supplying the much- 
 needed water to the diggers in the different localities. 
 The labour was immense, and the engineering 
 skill which was displayed, especially in dams 
 and sluices, and the formation of aqueducts over 
 deep ravines in the mountains, was astonishing. 
 The company, however, reimibursed themselves 
 largely, and derived a great revenue from the sale 
 of water, which was charged for weekly. They 
 ultimately sold their interest in the water in shares, 
 and returned to the United States with, as the 
 diggers said, a ' pile.' 
 
 There are people to be met with at the gold- 
 fields from every country in Europe -some from 
 the Cape of Good Hope, and some from the West 
 Indies. There arc no foreigners, however, equal to 
 the Chinese in respect of numbers. They were 
 coming, shipload after shipload, so rapidly that 
 some fear was entertained of their outnumbering 
 the British population, were they permitted to come 
 as they had been doing. The result was the im- 
 position of a poll-tax of ten pounds by the Legis- 
 lature, which has nearly amounted to a prohibition.
 
 r.OLD-DICGINr, 165 
 
 Singly, they appear to be cjuiet, good-humoured, 
 passive, and unresisting people. A ver)' different 
 opinion is formed of them, however, when they are 
 found in large numbers together, being sulky, 
 stubborn, overbearing, having the manner of persons 
 possessed by a sense of their great importance. 
 They are generally disliked by the other diggers. 
 Not being so venturesome as others, a Chinaman 
 prefers safe, though small, earnings to making a 
 venture, as in sinking a shaft ; and he is given 
 to wash o\er again the stuff that has been washed 
 by others, instead of findiiig out new stuff for 
 himself. There are many of them at the diggings 
 and townships engaged in business as storekeepers, 
 bakers, butchers, and market gardeners. Marriages 
 sometimes take place between them and English, 
 Scottish, and Irish females. They are notorious 
 gamblers and great cheats. A storekeeper related 
 to me a clever artifice which some of them had 
 resorted to for cheating him and many others. He 
 had been putting sovereigns into his pocket, along 
 with his silver change, but he could never see them 
 to take them out again when he wanted them. 
 This went on for .some time, as he thought that 
 the confusion of mind which he might have been 
 in was the cause of the disappearance of the sove- 
 reign.s. Having observed, however, that China- 
 men were rather anxious to get change in silver, 
 and were somewhat fastidious when they got it, his 
 suspicions were aroused —and he found, on looking 
 at the silver in his pockets, that the half-crowns, 
 shillings, and sixpences were coated with quick-
 
 i66 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 silver ! The mystery of the disappearance of the 
 sovereigns was at once solved. They had received 
 a coating of quicksilver from mixing with the 
 Chinamen's silver, and he had given away his 
 sovereigns to them in change as shillings ! When 
 first introduced, and before the gold-diggings 
 commenced, the Chinese had not perhaps the 
 opportunity of cheating, being engaged under 
 periods of indenture at very small wages, about 
 six pounds a year, as shepherds, cooks, and servants, 
 making themselves generally useful. They were 
 always known, however, to be engaged in cheating 
 one another. The superintendent of a station, 
 where I halted for the night, showed me a piece of 
 paper with some scrawls of ink upon it, which, he 
 said, he had just received from a Chinaman in 
 payment for five pounds' worth of store goods. 
 The Chinaman looked most woeful and confused 
 when told that it was not worth anything. Another 
 Chinaman, he said, had given it to him in pay- 
 ment for a horse, and said it was Englishman's 
 money for five pounds ; an imposition of the same 
 kind as that which an Englishman in China might 
 practise upon another in attempting to write the 
 Chinese language, and in giving him a document 
 purporting to be Chinese. 
 
 When the gold-diggings commenced, shepherds 
 were not receiving more than twelve pounds, and 
 stockmen seventeen pounds a year ; whilst labour 
 generally was very cheap, and all the labouring 
 classes, who could afford to pay the passage-money, 
 were going to California. It was at this time that
 
 f.or.D-Difx-.iNr, 167 
 
 the Chinese were first introduced to supply the 
 great demand for labour. Wages rose instantly 
 on gold being found in Australia, and the labour- 
 ing classes were largely benefited. When the 
 gold was first discovered, people went with a 
 determination to find it : hoping even against 
 hope ; but they are not so much disposed now to 
 ' chance it.' Rich and payable spots are not, 
 therefore, so apt to be come upon, and this may 
 account for the reported falling-off in the yield of 
 the gold-fields. As to the gold-fields becoming 
 worked out, exhaustion may occur in some places, 
 that is, the gold may be found so thinly diffused as 
 not to pay the labour of finding it, but there are so 
 many large tracts of country of a similar character 
 to tliat in which it is found, that new gold-fields 
 will al\va>'s be heard of, as in Western Australia, and 
 gold-digging is likely to continue to take its place as 
 a permanent and great industrial pursuit. Were the 
 diggers to content themselves with small, though 
 certain earnings, and not go about so much from place 
 to place, it miglit be better for them, and complaints 
 of the want of success would be more seldom heard 
 of The truth of the aphorism, ' Gold ma}^ be 
 bought too dear,' has a singular confirmation at 
 the very fountain-head. The statement is .so 
 current at the gold-fields, and has appeared so 
 often in print — indeed, I ha\c seen it in some of 
 the Melbourne newspa])ers that there must be 
 some foundation for the truth of the assertion, that 
 e\er}' ounce of gold obtained from the earth is 
 produced at a cost of seven pounds. As much as
 
 i68 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 ten pounds per ounce has sometimes been reckoned 
 as the cost of its production. This is astounding. 
 The selling price of gold amounts only to about 
 three pounds seventeen shillings and sixpence per 
 ounce. Three pounds twelve shillings, and three 
 pounds fifteen shillings, are about the prices re- 
 ceived by the diggers, according to quality. It is 
 not, therefore, the gold-diggers, but the traders, 
 storekeepers, innkeepers, merchants, and people in 
 England, with the farmers in California and Chili, 
 who have benefited most by the gold-fields in 
 Australia. Large benefits have also, no doubt, 
 been derived by stock-holders — sheep and cattle 
 having quadrupled in price. Sinking a shaft is an 
 expensive and laborious undertaking ; from the 
 bad state of the roads in a time of flood, and the 
 impossibility of travelling in a time of drought, 
 provisions are apt to become scarce, and flour, 
 sugar, tea, and all other commodities, rise to such 
 exorbitant prices that very large earnings indeed 
 are necessary to enable one to stand the contest ; 
 besides, a scarcity of water may occur, and this 
 adds immensely to the expense. The number of 
 persons of different grades of life with whom I 
 have met, who had been engaged in gold-digging, 
 had met with indifferent success, and had tired and 
 sickened of the occupation, is a good opinion on 
 the spot as to the unsatisfactory nature of a life of 
 gold-digging. 
 
 The newly discovered gold-fields of Western 
 Australia form at present the great theme and 
 object of attraction to gold-diggens.
 
 169 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 SHEPHERDING 
 
 The Shepherd's Mode of Life— Easy Way of Earning a Livelihood 
 — Hutkeepers and Families— Resources for those Unaccustomed 
 to Manual Labour— Wages — Rations — A Commercial Traveller 
 and an Expatriated Irish Landlord — Shepherding a Stepping- 
 stone to a Better Position — A Lucky Irishman— Newly-Arrived 
 Emigrants —Scottish Highlanders in Trouble— Encamping Out. 
 
 A MAN walking slowly along a public highway, 
 with a flock of sheep straggling before him, and 
 nibbling at the grass on the roadside, is not unlike 
 the shepherding of Australia. Indeed, an}- one 
 capable of walking a few miles a day, with.sufficient 
 eyesight to observe the sheep before him, as he 
 leisurely follows them, is deemed quite competent 
 to perform the duties of a shepherd. It is not so 
 in New Zealand, however, shepherding there more 
 nearly resembling what it is in Great Britain ; 
 whilst a man who might suit for a shepherd in Aus- 
 tralia might not suit in New Zealand. There are 
 few.things which seem .so surprising as the facility 
 with which a livelihood may be secured in Australia, 
 without doing anything worth)- of the name of 
 labour — simply by shepherding. Many persons, 
 who in the mother countr}- would most unquestion-
 
 I70 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 ably be the inmates of poor-iiouses, or the objects 
 of public charity, can always manage to obtain 
 here, by tending sheep, a comfortable subsistence 
 for themselves and families, and even accumulate 
 money if they are careful. It was an excellent 
 method of getting rid of some noisome people 
 who had been always cr)'ing out for relief, to send 
 them to Australia ; and it must have been very 
 astonishing to many to think how it was possible 
 for such helpless human beings, when they arrived 
 there, to be able to provide for themselves. There 
 were two persons, a man and his wife, both far 
 advanced in years. The woman had lost the 
 power of her limbs ; but when stretched on a 
 couch beside the fire, she was able to cook for her- 
 self and her husband. The man could not do 
 much — but he could do a little ; he could walk 
 about a mile a day, and attend to some maimed 
 sheep (foot-rot), resting himself the most of the 
 time on a fallen tree ; and this service entitled him 
 to eight shillings a week, with rations for himself 
 and wife. 
 
 Shepherding is a very indolent occupation, and 
 it is pitiable in the extreme sometimes to see a man 
 of fourteen or sixteen stones weight dragging him- 
 self along the ground, sitting on a fallen tree, lying 
 down, basking in the sun, and doing work which 
 might be done as well — and which is very frequently 
 done — by a boy fourteen or sixteen years of age. 
 Hutkeeping is a still lazier occupation. The man 
 has nothing to do save to sit in the hut all day long, 
 to cook his own victuals, to shift, when necessary,
 
 SHEPHERDING 171 
 
 the hurdles in which the sheep are folded, and to 
 inform the overseer of any of the sheep beinj; 
 missing when the flocks are put in at night. He 
 sleeps in a covered box like a sedan-chair beside 
 the sheep, to guard against an)' attack being made 
 upon them by the native dogs, the noise and 
 hovvlings of his ov\ii dog, the usual signal of 
 their presence, awakening him When a family is 
 engaged for an out-station, there is an addition of 
 wages in lieu of the hutkecper ; the wife taking 
 care of the hut, the husband making himself re- 
 sponsible f(M- performing all the other duties of the 
 hut keeper. There are usually two or three shep- 
 herds at an out-station, and the sleeping by the 
 sheep-folds at night is always arranged in such a 
 way that one of the unmarried .shepherds may do 
 it. When the married and unmarried all live com- 
 fortably together, the out-station — the usual hag- 
 gard, naked, woe-begone looking shepherd's hut — 
 is found very frequently, in such cases, to assume 
 the appearance of a comfortable homestead. The 
 wife, if a thrifty woman, employs her powers of 
 persuasion with the men in assisting her to carry 
 out her schemes of domestic management and 
 economy ; cows are kept, a garden is formed, and 
 there arc all the usual adjuncts of household com- 
 fort. The employing of families at stations is a 
 great improvement upon the old system of hut- 
 keepers ; a home is provided for many a previously 
 homeless wanderer, the humanising influences of 
 society are brought within their reach, and they are 
 saved from the great danger of becominu- what is
 
 172 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 called ' cranky,' a deficiency in their mental 
 powers, which has happened to some from being long 
 alone. When there are in a family one or two boys 
 capable of taking charge of a flock of sheep, the 
 family is left in sole charge of the out-station ; and 
 the general arrangement is, when there are two boys 
 shepherding, that the father of the family stays at 
 home, employing his time to his own and his 
 family's benefit, in such work as cultivating the 
 garden, making shoes — if he is a shoemaker — and 
 attending, at the same time, to the boys in charge 
 of the sheep, and seeing that they do their duty 
 properly. 
 
 One of the singular attractions which Australia 
 presents, is the asylum which it provides for persons 
 who are incapable of doing manual labour, and the 
 ease with which a li\'elihood may be gained, and 
 the bread of industry won, independently of hard 
 labour. Those who are unable to face the storm 
 and endure the stern realities of life in individual 
 effort and encounter with the world, may here, 
 in shepherding, always betake themselves to a 
 shelter, possessing and enjoying the peace and 
 comfort of a home, and be plentifully provided for. 
 Many persons in Australia, more especially those 
 \\'ho arc the heads of families, who have never been 
 accustomed to manual labour, are subject to a 
 pressure that falls easily and lightly enough upon 
 those inured to toil, but is a most grievous burden 
 when borne by those who have never earned their 
 bread by the sweat of their brow. A knowledge of 
 the land ihcy li\c in, and its great pursuit, ' wool-
 
 SIlKrilEROING 173 
 
 growinc^,' would, however, enable them to place 
 themselves in a [)osition in which they would be 
 able to attain independence, and all the while 
 receive the advantages of a settled home. A person 
 whom I knew, who had been a commercial traveller 
 in England, preferring a shepherd's life, had quietly 
 and comfortably ensconced himself at an out-station 
 with his wife and family, wholly free from expense. 
 He appeared quite satisfied, and there was no word 
 of grumbling, discontent, or disappointment to be 
 heard from his lips ; the cause being, I suppose, 
 that he was well-informed, knew the kind of country 
 which he had come to, and had been careful not to 
 leave himself any ground for complaint or dis- 
 appointment. His gay partner, with whom he had 
 braved the ' perils of the deep,' to push his fortune 
 in Australia, proved herself to be an industrious 
 housewafe ; a w^ell-cultivated garden, with cows, 
 pigs, and poultry, testified to their industry and 
 domestic comfort, whilst the flowers in front of 
 their dwelling showed the lively interest which they 
 had taken in their new situation. The commercial 
 traveller, now a shepherd, was ambitious to 'get on,' 
 was qualifying himself for an overseership, and 
 hoped, he said, to be ' promoted from the ranks.' 
 He was fond of reading, and he had certainly 
 e\ery facility, so far as regarded time, for indulging 
 in his hobby. Whatever may have been the 
 benefits generally of Sir Robert Peel's Encumbered 
 Irish Estates Bill, it had brought about a great 
 change in the fortunes of one person whom I knew, 
 who said to me, that being at an out-station in the
 
 174 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 bush of Australia was somewhat different from 
 living in state and being lord of the manor of one 
 
 of the finest properties on the banks of the 
 
 However, he did not seem in any way disconcerted, 
 he was, in fact, with his excellent wife and family, 
 very happy and cheerful. Virtue seeks the shade, 
 and there were many circumstances which con- 
 curred to render his situation agreeable. Their 
 privacy was not liable to be intruded upon ; they 
 were all enabled to maintain their independence, 
 and there was no hard work required of them ; the 
 sons had received a superior education, and there 
 was every prospect of their future advancement as 
 overseers or superintendents. Their house was 
 situated on the slope of a ridge which ran along the 
 banks of a river, and out of reach of high- water 
 mark. In the course of the channel of the river 
 there were patches of alluvial soil. One of these 
 patches, not far distant, had been taken possession 
 of and cultivated by the previous occupant of the 
 station. Maize was grown in sufficient quantities 
 to feed pigs and poultry, whilst the ground was 
 strewn with pumpkins and melons. There was also 
 a handsome addition of garden produce, in the shape 
 of a superabundance of peaches ; and if the man 
 who had planted the peach stones had also planted 
 grape and fig cuttings, there would have been a 
 still more valuable addition. As it was, it was 
 merely an accident that there were fruit-trees there 
 at all, and the man at the time of planting them 
 very likely thought little of the favour he was con- 
 ferring on those who were to come after him.
 
 SIIEPHERDIXG 175 
 
 They could have received the use of as mail}- cows 
 as they pleased — hundreds of them, in fact- as 
 stock-holders are too glad to get their cattle quartered 
 to refuse any request for them. 
 
 There are a great many unpleasant associations 
 connected with Australian shepherding, however ; 
 at first there were convicts, next exiles, then followed 
 Chinese, with half-castes, and coolies from India ; 
 even savages from the Feejec Islands were introduced 
 to help the sheep-farmers. Cheap labour was 
 wanted, and the profits of grazing at the time could 
 not afford, or were supposed not to afford, a suffi- 
 ciently high rate of wages to attract emigrants from 
 Great Britain. All this has passed away, however. 
 The gold-diggings brought about a complete revo- 
 lution in the rates of wages — -those of shepherds 
 rose from twehc to f(jrty pounds a year, and even 
 as high as sixty pounds, when a man undertook the 
 watching of his flock at night, whilst rations were 
 added. The rations for one man are the well-known 
 weekly allowance of 10 lbs. of flour, 10 lbs. of meat, 
 2 Ibs.of sugar, and a quarter of a pound of tea. The 
 wages of shepherds, like those of every other descrip- 
 tion of labour, will be found, however, to vary at dif- 
 ferent periods, and in different parts of the countr}-, 
 in accordance with tlic law of supply and demand. 
 I'here is much interest attached to the occupa- 
 tion of shepherding, from the large number of people 
 who are engaged in it, from the peculiar situation 
 of individuals and families, and also from its having 
 been hitherto the great starting point — the stepping- 
 stone, or the spring-board — for enabling people to
 
 176 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 make money for their future settlement in life. The 
 population of towns — storekeepers, innkeepers, and 
 others engaged in business — is recruited from the 
 shepherding class ; farming is almost entirely in 
 their hands : whilst many, with esquires added to 
 their names, who may be seen driving in their 
 chariots, with horses in bright burnished silver- 
 mounted harness, commenced their Australian life 
 as shepherds. Those who take to the occupation 
 are saved all risk of loss, to begin with, having 
 nothing to lose ; taken from on board ship, it may 
 be, when landed, they are provided for, housed, fed, 
 and attended to like children in the arms of their 
 nurse; they acquire knowledge of the country, 
 of pursuits, manners and customs ; thus the stability 
 of their fortune is not endangered in the same way 
 as that of one who first begins to settle on the land 
 devoid of experience, and who has to maintain him- 
 self and family all the while at his own cost. 
 
 Those who seem to profit most in shepherding 
 are families in which there are one, two, or three 
 boys, each capable of tending a flock of sheep. A 
 father of a family, thus favourably circumstanced, 
 incidentally mentioned to me in his house, that he 
 had saved by his sons' labour one thousand pounds, 
 and that he proposed to remove from the bush, and 
 settle in New Zealand. It is far from being desirable 
 that any one individual, or family, should continue 
 long shepherding, however ; from the solitary mode 
 of life, ' all, all alone,' Sunday and Saturday, from 
 one year's end to the other, constantly following 
 sheep, an instinctive aversion to the occupation is
 
 SHEPHERDING 177 
 
 soon felt, and there arc many, in consequence, who 
 leave to settle in a town or neighbourhood, leaving 
 their places to be filled by others. An Irishman, 
 named Michael O'Brady, whose hut I used to pass 
 very frequently, and to whose wife, Bridget, I was 
 indebted for many kindnesses, in receiving part of 
 their rations, was the only one I have met who 
 seemed quite determined to stick to shepherding as 
 long as he could. Michael did not herd himself, 
 however, and was always hanging about the house ; 
 he had a large number of boys shepherding, and 
 they were bringing him, he said, three hundred 
 pounds a year. Michael seemed to have been made 
 for Australia, or Australia made for him, and no 
 two ever got on better together. ' I don't like work,' 
 he once said to the writer, who had questioned him 
 if he never thought of buying land and settling near 
 a town. Michael arrived at the time when shep- 
 herds were leaving to go to the California gold- 
 diggings, and was, therefore, a great prize. He was 
 taken from the ship in which he landed, with 
 Bridget and their crowd of young children, and 
 conveyed in a dray, to a station far in the interior, 
 by the sheep-farmer who hired him and his eldest 
 boy. This is not always the good fortune of main-, 
 however, and newly arrived emigrants are not un fre- 
 quently thrown into a state of great perplexity in 
 not seeing emplo}'ers waiting, as the)' anticipated, 
 to engage them. The statements of some of these 
 emigrants would appear pitiable in the extreme to 
 those unacquainted with their real situation and the 
 manners of the country. A paragraph, under the 
 
 N
 
 178 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 heading * Distressing Case,' appeared in a Queens- 
 land newspaper, but an old colonist, or one inured 
 to Australian life, would have failed to see anything 
 distressing in the case. Two families, the paragraph 
 stated, had arrived in an emigrant ship. The 
 fathers of those families, two stout, able-bodied men, 
 had travelled forty miles inland, looking for employ- 
 ment, and could not find any. They returned to 
 Brisbane and made their case known to the authori- 
 ties, stating that they and their families were 
 destitute. An old colonist, however, would at once 
 have ' humped his swag,' and taken his family with 
 him ; he would not think a journey of forty miles 
 worth speaking about, as the further he travelled 
 inland, the more certain he would be of obtaining 
 employment, and a high rate of wages ; whilst he 
 would persevere in going from station to station, 
 until he had succeeded in finding a situation of some 
 kind or other. 
 
 The people are all very kind ; and the poorer 
 the families, the more certain one would seem to 
 be of being hospitably entertained ; whilst the 
 owners of stations are always remarkable for assist- 
 ing persons who are looking for employment. I 
 know of only one case of travellers complaining of 
 want of hospitality. The complaint was made by 
 a number of Scottish Highlanders, who had not 
 been long from on board ship, and were wending 
 their way to a .station in the interior. They stopped 
 me suddenly on the road, and one exclaimed, partly 
 in English and partly in Gaelic, with a movement 
 of his arm which the appetite of hunger seemed
 
 SIIEI'IIKRIMNG 17.; 
 
 only capable of causinc(, ' If we had met you ' 
 (meaning-, also, all the other people in the bush) 
 
 ' as you have met us, in the Glen of , we would 
 
 have shown you how to treat men.' i\n ex- 
 planation followed, when it apj^eared that they 
 had been a long time without food, and had been 
 refused assistance at a station which they had just 
 passed. They had failed to make their case clearly 
 known, and they were ignorant of the fact that the 
 district which they were traversing was overrun 
 with gold-diggers, whose repeated calls at the 
 houses of the settlers was too great a tax to be 
 borne patiently. The wants of the Highlanders 
 were supplied, however, by a most hospitable 
 gentleman, at the next station which they came 
 to. 
 
 Encamping out at night is a universal practice. 
 Indeed, an experienced Australian never dreams 
 in travelling of making to a house for lodgings, 
 unless it be to recruit his stock of provisions. 
 There are alwa}s drays going along the road, 
 and travellers on foot usuall}- keep company with 
 the tlra\'men in their favourite places of encamp- 
 ment, and it is alwaj's found to be more agreeable 
 to sleep out at night, under an awning, such as 
 that of a blanket, or a covering formed of a sheet 
 of calico.
 
 i8o AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 LOST IN THE BUSH 
 
 Bush Directions to Travellers —Bush of Australia and Bush of New 
 Zealand— Died of Starvation — Riding in a Circle — Lost Tra- 
 vellers — A Traveller gone Mad — Short Cuts and Hair-breadth 
 Escapes — Marked Tree Line — Lost Children — Blacks Tracking 
 a Lost Child— A Mother and her Lost Child — Aboriginal 
 Guides. 
 
 The directions which are usually given to a tra- 
 veller who is endeavouring to find his way from 
 one station to another in the interior, where there 
 is no ' marked tree line,' or bush track, to guide 
 him, are much as follows : ' Keep down the side of 
 the river (or creek) for nearly three miles, until 
 you come to a cattle camp ; pass that and bear a 
 little to the right, and you will come to Rocky 
 Gully ; cross over it, and look for a ridge to the 
 left ; go over it, and keep right ahead, and you 
 will come to Oakey Creek ; follow it down, and 
 you will come to an out-station of Ballibullu. 
 There is a well-marked road from that to the head- 
 station. You cannot mistake it — it is only twenty 
 miles.' An experienced bushman would not be 
 likely to mistake .such direction.s. He would know 
 how much a mile represented, he would know a
 
 LOST IN rilK IllJSlI i.Si 
 
 cattle camp when he saw it, and lie could also dis- 
 tinguish Rocky Gully and Oakcy Creek from all 
 other creeks and gullies, as being prominent fea- 
 tures in the country to be travelled over ; places, 
 such as creeks and gullies, being often named from 
 some [)eculiarity that distinguishes them, such as 
 the existence of water. It is very different, how- 
 ever, with one who is unaccustomed to bush tra- 
 velling ; if he sees one cattle camp he sees a 
 hundred : and as to Rocky Gully and Oakey 
 Creek, they cannot speak for themselves and say 
 that they are the gullies and creeks which were to 
 be come to. Over-anxiety is always certain to 
 lead to a mistake, and the directions which have 
 been given should be carefully attended to. A 
 gentleman in travelling informed me that he had 
 gone one hundred miles out of his way, in conse- 
 quence of a mistake which he had committed in 
 not following the direction indicated in words 
 similar to those given above. He had turned off 
 too soon — went right ahead as directed, continued 
 his journey until he came to what he supposed was 
 Oakey Creek, followed it down, and came to a 
 part of the country far from where he had intended 
 going to, when he discovered that, instead of fol- 
 lowing the fall of the water to the west, he had 
 followed it to the east. The whole country has 
 the appearance of being spread over with a net- 
 work, in consequence of the chains of hills and 
 mountains, which arc thinly covered with trees. 
 Hills bare of trees being rarely met with, it is 
 impossible to see to any great distance in one
 
 i82 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 direction, and thus mark out some object to steer 
 one's course by ; and, as a consequence, travelling 
 in a straight direction is seldom possible, from the 
 intervening and frequently steep mountains, unless 
 it may be far inland, where the country is much 
 more level. The bush of Australia bears no re- 
 semblance to the bush of New Zealand, that of the 
 latter country being dense, indeed, frequently im- 
 penetrable forest, not unlike the clumps of planta- 
 tion which occur at intervals in the mountain 
 districts of Scotland. 
 
 A gentleman, who had recently arrived from 
 England, named St. George, with whom I some- 
 times met whilst travelling, had brought with him 
 ten thousand pounds to invest in sheep-farming. 
 Favoured with letters of introduction, he was pro- 
 fitably employing his time in going from station to 
 station, endeavouring to acquire information and 
 make himself acquainted with the modes of 
 management of sheep, before completing a pur- 
 chase. He trusted himself, on one occasion, to 
 follow out a bush direction given to him, from one 
 station to another (the distance was about twenty 
 miles across the country) ; there was no marked 
 tree line, or bush track, and he was requested to 
 be very careful to look out, after he had crossed a 
 chain of mountains, for a bridle-track which would 
 lead him straight to the station which he wished 
 to go to. The bridle-trac]< was of vital importance 
 to him, and he felt as if his very life depended 
 upon it He took the first track he came to, after 
 he had crossed the mountains, and followed it all
 
 LOST IX THE BUSH 183 
 
 day, up and down liill, over fallen trees, branches, 
 rocks, stones, and sometimes through close scrub ; 
 still the path was very distinctly marked. The 
 sun shone sometimes on his back, sometimes on 
 his face, and he did not know what to think of it ; 
 he always kept on the path, however, as directed, 
 where he could see it, but the path, or supposed 
 bridle-track, never seemed to bring him nearer the 
 anxiously-looked-for station. Darkness finally set 
 in, and, as he could not see his way any further, 
 there was no alternative left but to remain in the 
 bush all night. He was frightened to trust his 
 horse by allowing it to graze freely, as experienced 
 bushmen always do, by taking off the saddle and 
 bridle, and making use of the stirrup leathers to tie 
 the horse's fore feet to prevent it from straying any 
 distance. He never let the reins out of his hands, 
 greatly to his own as well as his horse's discomfort. 
 The next day's journey \\as much the same as the 
 preceding one — up and down hill, over rocks, dead 
 timber, and through brushwood, still, after all his 
 arduous labours and indefatigable perseverance, 
 there was not the least appearance of being re- 
 warded by a sight of a human dwelling. Faint 
 from want of food, though fortunately there was 
 plenty of water, and his minel not being in a very 
 collected state, he gave himself up for lost, and 
 with the object of removing all anxiety from the 
 minds of his relatives in England, and showing 
 that he had not come to his death by foul means, 
 he wrote with a pencil on a slip of paper, ' Died of 
 starvation,' and pinned the paper to a shirt, which
 
 i84 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 he hung on a branch of a tree. He then laid him- 
 self down on the ground, bidding farewell to the 
 world. The shirt, however, was the cause of his 
 being saved from the death which he had antici- 
 pated, and to which he had so complacently- 
 resigned himself, as it attracted next day the notice 
 of a stockman who had most opportunely happened 
 to come in that direction, and who conducted the 
 traveller safely to the station which he had been 
 endeavouring to reach. It transpired that Mr. 
 St. George had been following cattle-tracks, and 
 these are usually much more distinct and beaten 
 than bridle-tracks. Cattle have often to travel 
 long distances for water, and they follow one 
 another in one path, in going to the summits of 
 the hills and mountains for warmth at night, or in 
 returning to the valleys to drink ; and, from going 
 to and fro so frequently, their tracks become more 
 beaten than the public highway. 
 
 The superintendent of a station narrated to me 
 rather a curious misadventure of a traveller, who 
 had just made his entrance into the bush, and who 
 was as ignorant as Mr. St. George of the necessity 
 of adhering to the famous direction for providing 
 against the danger of being lost ; ' Follow the fall 
 of water down ; sure to come to some place.' The 
 inexperienced traveller had lost sight of the great 
 jHiblic highway ; a fall of rain had made the grass 
 to grow so quickly as to have made it rather diffi- 
 cult in some places to see the road ; he gallantly 
 persevered on his journey, however, following, as 
 he supposed, the right direction. The attention of
 
 LOST IN THE BUSH 185 
 
 the superintendent was called to him in the early- 
 part of the da>', and as he was traxeUin^r where 
 there was no hic^hway, the former naturally enouf^h 
 concluded that he was well actiuainted with the 
 country; and, from the fact of his always ridin^^ in 
 the same place, it was thought that he was looking 
 for lost horses or bullocks. Late in the evening, 
 the superintendent's attention was again called to 
 him, and, seeing that he always followed the same 
 route, was riding at great speed, and, as nearly as 
 he could guess, travelling in a circle, he began to 
 entertain misgivings as to the traveller's soundness 
 of mind. Riding up to him, the mystery was at 
 once solved. ' I was lost ! I was lost ! ' exclaimed 
 the traveller, in an ecstasy of delight, ' but I knew 
 that I was coming to .some place, the road always 
 getting more tlistinct.' The traveller had been 
 making the road himself ; he had come upon his 
 own horse's tracks, had continued to follow them, 
 and had been riding round and round as in a circus. 
 To men placed under similar circumstances, the 
 mark of a hatchet upon a tree, or a footprint upon 
 the sand, will sometimes communicate far greater 
 happiness and purer feelings of delight than those 
 which could be communicated by entering into 
 possession of the richest earthly inheritance. 
 
 There is always a strong temptation to * strike 
 across the country,' to use the common expression, 
 as a saving ma}' thus be effected sometimes of 
 twent)' or fifty miles in a journey of two or three 
 days. It is in attempting to make those 'short 
 cuts,' as they are callctl, that nearly all the cases of
 
 i86 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 being lost occur, and from which the numerous 
 recitals of hair-breadth escapes derive their origin. 
 Some of these hair-breadth escapes are certainly 
 very remarkable. A stockman told me that, on 
 cracking his whip in an unfrequented part of his 
 run, he heard, as he thought, the sound of a human 
 voice. On going to the place whence the sound 
 proceeded, there was a man, in a most exhausted 
 state, who had been lost for several days. Whilst 
 making a near cut, which saved me fifteen miles in 
 a day's journey, a shepherd, in charge of a flock of 
 sheep, thus accosted me in passing : ' A man had a 
 narrow escape here a few days ago ; it is easy 
 enough getting in here, but it is another thing 
 getting out.' It was a labyrinth of granite hills, 
 surrounded by high mountains. ' I saw the mark 
 of a man's foot,' continued the shepherd, ' and knew 
 that there was some one about here who had lost 
 himself —there were fresh marks the following day. 
 I cried and coocycd without getting any answer. I 
 brought my gun with me the next day, to make 
 him hear. I heard his voice, and went to the 
 place ; the man was nearly dead, and I had some 
 difficulty in getting him to my hut.' It was very 
 thoughtful on the part of the shepherd, and credit- 
 able to him in the highest degree, as very few 
 indeed would have taken the precaution which he 
 took in anticipating the misfortunes of a fellow 
 creature, and rescuing him from the jaws of death. 
 This case contrasts most strongly with one which 
 I heard of in New Zealand. A number of men who 
 were travelling together— all new arrivals — had
 
 LOST IN THE 1UJSH 187 
 
 cncampctl for the niL^ht. Durinc^ the ni^^ht long, 
 they heard and were disturbed with the sound of 
 tlic well-known cooeye. They gave no answer, how- 
 ever. The cooeye was from another part}-, who 
 had been lost for several days in the dense forest, 
 and who, some time afterwards, were found dead 
 from exposure and hunger at the place where they 
 had cried out. Not to answer a cooeye — that is, 
 coocycvig in return — is always accounted the greatest 
 barbarity which one can be guilty of, but it was, 
 no doubt, excusable in this instance, the new arrivals 
 being ignorant of its grave and important meaning. 
 The boldness, or rather the foolhardiness, of 
 some in attempting to do what they see others 
 doing, without possessing the same knowledge of 
 the country, and experience in travelling, frequently 
 brings them into situations of great peril, and in 
 one instance which came under my observation, 
 was the cause of one man's death. I had traversed 
 the same path — a bridle-track — frequently. It had 
 been a ' marked tree line ' of road, but tlie marks 
 upon the trees were nearly all obliterated, and the 
 route was only traversed by those who knew the 
 country. The man, whom I had seen, attempted 
 to follow this path, to 'short cut' it, and had lost 
 himself. He was found, by the merest accident, 
 by the owner of the station, after he had been 
 wandering about for eight days in a maze of broken 
 ridges, rather thickly timbered. He had lost the 
 use of his reason, and, in a state of delirium, 
 had stripped himself of all his clothing and was 
 appeasing his hunger by devouring a black snake
 
 iSS AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 which he had succeeded in kilHng, and which he 
 still held in his hand when he was found. The 
 gentleman who found him conveyed him in a cart 
 to his house. Medical assistance was procured, 
 and every attention bestowed upon him, but he 
 never rallied, and died a few days afterwards. 
 
 There is something peculiarly distressing and 
 lamentable, however, when children, so helpless and 
 entirely destitute of resources, are lost. Fortu- 
 nately, instances are not numerous, but, when a 
 case does occur of a child being lost, it is a source 
 of bitter and poignant grief to the parents, who are 
 almost more deserving of pity than the lost child, 
 as an occurrence of the kind never takes place 
 without the parents taking the blame of negligence 
 on themselves for having permitted the child to go 
 out of their sight. I officiated at the interment of 
 one child which came to its death in this manner. 
 The grief of the mother was too agonizing to admit 
 of description, and it must have been greatly 
 intensified from the fact of the remains having been 
 found only a very short distance from the house. 
 
 Those in search of lost children are apt, very 
 stupidly, to make so much noise in cr)-ing and 
 shouting, that the child is frightened, and instinc- 
 tively conceals itself A very good illustration of 
 this came under my notice at a station where I 
 happened to be at a time when the child of a shep- 
 herd was lost. As soon as the intelligence reached 
 the station, every man and boy about the place 
 were instantly on horseback, with stock-whips in 
 their hands, and a kennel of dogs at the horses'
 
 LOST IN THE BUSH 189 
 
 heels, howling and barking. A stranger would 
 have been very apt to have mistaken all the ado 
 and excitement as an expedition in pursuit of a 
 bushranger, or a wild beast, rather than a search 
 for a lost child. Scattering themselves over the 
 ground surrounding the shepherd's hut, they com- 
 menced looking everywhere for the child. It was 
 rather open country, thinly dotted with trees, and 
 they could see long distances in every direction. 
 They were all filled with astonishment at their lack 
 of success, and could not help giving utterance to 
 their fears — to thoughts of the death and inscrutable 
 mystery of the child's disappearance. It was now- 
 late in the evening ; and, as they could not see to 
 continue their search longer, they thought that they 
 might as well kill a native dog, which their own 
 dogs had been barking at, in a hollow log. Dis- 
 mounting, and arming themselves with sticks to 
 strike the brute as it came out, one of the men, 
 looking into the hollow of the log, saw the child 
 which they had been searching for. The child had 
 been frightened by the wild screams, roars, and 
 cries, and had hid herself 
 
 A family may live sometimes quite unconscious 
 of the dangers which they have been creating and 
 rearing around their dwellings. I louses are usually 
 at first erected where there is a clear, open sward 
 of grass, where large views may be obtained around, 
 and always where there is a permanent supply of 
 water. Where cows are kept, and dair)-ing is 
 carried on, the soil is enriched ; and }oung trees 
 are apt to grow up vigorously and to form a scrub.
 
 I90 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 A girl, fourteen years of age, the daughter of 
 most industrious parents, had gone to look for the 
 cows in one of these scrubs, but she never returned. 
 Ten days were fruitlessly spent in search of her 
 by many persons ; the air resounded far and near 
 with cries to her ; there was no answer, and those 
 cries, especially by strange voices, had, in all 
 probability, frightened her and caused her to go 
 further away. The country was rather hilly and 
 thinly co\ered with trees, as the country generally 
 is. It was woeful to give over the search when 
 the shades of evening had closed around them and 
 to repair to their own houses, knowing that she 
 whom they had been in search of was out in the 
 cold, dewy nights, without shelter or covering, 
 famishing for want of food ; and every morsel 
 which they put to their lips served only to remind 
 them, and the parents more particularly, that 
 Jessie, the lost one, had not taken anything for so 
 many nights and days. There did not happen to 
 be any blacks about, but their services were now 
 deemed indispensable. There were some at a 
 neighbouring station, who came very readily when 
 solicited to give assistance, but it was too late. 
 The}', however, did their part very well. On being 
 told where the girl was last seen to enter the scrub, 
 they went down instantly on their hands and 
 knees, and, with their large, sooty eyes, scanned 
 every blade of grass, fallen leaf, and twig, with as 
 much care and delicacy as if they had been objects 
 of infinite worth. Holding their eyes intently on 
 the ground, and scanning it in this way as they
 
 LOST IN THE Iirsil 19, 
 
 went alonf^, they tracked the marks of her feet, 
 step after step, and over every inch which she had 
 traversed. It was tedious work for the blacks, but 
 they seemed proud of the great consideration in 
 which their services were held. The marks of her 
 feet led to a rocky eminence, nearly two miles dis- 
 tant from the house ; here the blacks directed the 
 attention of the anxious parents and others, who 
 were watching them with absorbing interest, to 
 some marks of blood on the rock, saying, in their 
 uncouth jargon : ' Feet bleeding on the head of 
 this fellow rock.' All the busy surmising as to 
 where she could possibly have gone were soon set 
 ta rest, and, as the blacks had conjectured, her 
 dead body was found on the summit of the rock. 
 
 There is always great satisfaction when the 
 remains of the lost are found. Uncertainty is the 
 most calamitous state which the mind can be 
 thrown into. The heart is choked, and there is an 
 unutterable anguish in the pent up and conflicting 
 emotions of hope and fear. In one case which I 
 knew of, a man, with his wife and family, had 
 committed the mistake of settling at a certain place 
 beside a dense scrub. The youngest child, the 
 only boy in the family, had been unguardedly per- 
 mitted to enter it ; he was lost, and never found. 
 The bereaved mother drank deeply of the cup of 
 sorrow ; her mind was ever restless. She could 
 think of nothing, do nothing, but what concerned 
 the finding of her lost boy ; and no words of peace 
 and consolation could be heard until some trace of 
 him could be found. Thoughts of him were ever
 
 192 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 recurring to her mind ; he might be found in one 
 place — he might be found in another — and her 
 requests to go in search were often attended to 
 when she was unable to go herself All hope of 
 earthly care had fled from her dwelling ; a mantle 
 of death seemed to cover it ; the breeze which had 
 wafted tjT^ sweetest fragrance to her, seemed now 
 to bear the most poisonous exhalations ; death 
 and terror were couched in every fallen tree, and 
 their branches, waving in the wind, appeared to be 
 triumphing in the victory which they had obtained 
 over her and her boy. Sleep fled her pillow, and, 
 prostrated i^ body and mind, she sank into the 
 deep wa^ of suffering, of bereavement, and of 
 ceaseless wailing, and found an early grave. 
 
 The aborigines are of inestimable value to 
 inexperienced travellers. There are few stations 
 at which some of them may not be found loitering, 
 and young lads especially are always ready to 
 mount a horse and go a long distance for a trifling 
 reward.
 
 193 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 DROUGHTS AN]) FLOODS 
 
 Coast and Dividing Ranges— A Drought and its Effects — Singular 
 Origin of a Fire — Hot Winds Agriculture in the, Interior — 
 Sandy and Swelling Blight Bullock Drivers — Carriers — Stock- 
 holders— Burning Grass Experience — Dams — Overstocking- 
 Losses during the Drought of 1865-6 — VegetaBles - Fall of 
 Rain — Seasons of Droughts and Floods, and Conse^ent Losses 
 — Agriculture. 
 
 LlABHJTY to severe drouglits and to great flood 
 are distinguishing characteristics of Australia, and 
 it would be in \'ain for the most hopeful of the 
 speculative admirers of the future of that Continent 
 to attemi)t to gainsay or ignore those great facts, 
 which tell severely on thr ciilti\ators of the soil, 
 and render agriculture a most hazardous under- 
 taking, save in some famed localities, as along the 
 coast, and in the dividing ranges. One would bo 
 apt to suppose that floods would not be so disas- 
 trous to the farmer as droughts, but in many places, 
 the whole of the land available for agriculture is 
 situated on the margin of creeks and rivers, and a 
 flood, when of unusual size, is as disastrous as a 
 drought, in consequence of the losses sustained in the 
 carrying away of fencing,crops, and sometimes even 
 houses, whilst the land is frequentl}- spoiled by the 
 
 O
 
 194 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 sand and debris which have been deposited. A 
 drought, when of long continuance, is felt by all 
 classes of the community, and is indeed a fearful 
 visitation of Divine Providence. In a continuous 
 journey of four hundred miles inland, during a time 
 of severe drought, I did not observe a blade of green 
 grass ; bush fires prevailed everywhere ; the dry 
 and withered grass crumbled in the hand into 
 powder, and the whole was set fire to with the 
 object of preparing the ground for the new grass 
 which was to grow after the expected fall of rain. 
 The heaven was as brass, the earth as iron — the 
 sun and moon had changed their appearance, were 
 as if clad in sackcloth, or red as blood, when seen 
 through a smoked glass. In consequence of the 
 black vapours, with which the atmosphere was 
 filled, from the bush fires far and near, the sun's 
 rays, during the height of the day, poured down 
 the most intense heat. The birds on the trees 
 might be seen panting for breath ; — water, cold, 
 cold water ! It is only under such circumstances 
 that one can fully understand the apt illustration 
 of Scripture story. The trees afford only miserable 
 shelter, and there is no place so much coveted as 
 the shadow of a rock for protection against the 
 oppressive heat of the sun's rays. There is also 
 great danger in travelling in the heat of the mid- 
 day sun ; and it is at such periods that ' the 
 smiting of the sun by day ' — cases of sunstroke — 
 are reported as happening to those who incautiously 
 expose themselves to the deadly heat without the 
 aid of an umbrella or a proper covering for the head.
 
 DROU(]HTS AND FLOODS 195 
 
 There was one uell-autheiUicalefl case of a coii- 
 flai^ration which had orit^inatcd in a singular 
 manner, related to me by the owner of the station 
 where the fire had originated in the interior of 
 Queensland. The day w^as broilincr hot ; there 
 was no living object to be seen mo\ing about any- 
 where, save a stray lizard, or a magpie in search of 
 food, and the usual stock-yard attendants, carrion 
 crows. The birds had sheltered themselves in the 
 leafy branches of the trees, and the ants, which are 
 usually so very busy in going to and fro in their 
 thoroughfares on the ground, did not venture to 
 come out of their nests. The cattle were all in 
 their encani[:)mcnls, performing the offices of 
 mutual kindness in constantly wiping away with 
 their tails from one another the clouds of flies 
 which were continually cndea\ouring to settle upon 
 them. The sheep were gathered in clusters at the 
 roots of trees, panting heaxily from the oppressi\e 
 heat, the shepherd in charge of them sitting 
 drowsily on a fallen tree. Outdoor manual labour 
 might be said to be impossible save to the blacks, 
 and indoor labour might be said to consist chiefl}' 
 in wiping the perspiration from the head and face, 
 and in going to quench the thirst \\ith the trickling 
 drops which oozed from the canxas bags of water 
 sus[)ended in the verandah. It was on such a da)- 
 of intense heat that my informant observed smoke 
 arise near one of the outbuildings of the homestead. 
 The smoke was increasing in volume, and the fire 
 from which it proceeded became visible and was 
 soon spreading fast in the direction of the dwelling- 
 
 o 2
 
 196 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 house, feeding itself on shreds of bark and chips of 
 wood, which covered the ground thickly. The 
 buildings would have been all in a flame in a short 
 time had it not been for the timeous discovery. 
 The origin of the fire was clearly traced to an axe 
 which had been left outside, the powerful heat of 
 the sun's rays having acted on .the polished blade 
 and ignited shreds of bark beside it. 
 
 The hot winds are supposed to be occasioned 
 by the perpendicular rays of the summer sun 
 falling on the sandstone ridges, and the large tracts 
 of country covered \\ith loose stones in the north- 
 western interior. The winds passing over these 
 parts of country are heated, and deprived of their 
 moisture. They present an obstacle of a formid- 
 able character to the successful pursuit of culti- 
 vation over a great part of the interior. Though 
 no dependence of any kind is placed on agriculture, 
 there will be very frequently found at stations 
 patches for growing maize, sorghum, and sac- 
 charatum, pumpkins, melons, and sometimes wheat. 
 The work is regarded as having very much of the 
 nature of a venture ; and a crop in one out of two, 
 three, or five years will not be a disappointment. 
 In districts where wheat can be grown, and where 
 there is no convenience of carriage, or sufficient 
 population to maintain a steam flour-mill, every 
 homestead is provided with a portable iron hand 
 flour-mill, to grind the wheat into flour, an operation 
 in connection with which the aborigines sometimes 
 make themselves very useful. One of the earliest 
 clergymen in New South Wales narrated to the
 
 DROUGHTS AND FLOODS m,-j 
 
 writer rather an interesting; episode in his life in 
 connection with a drouy;ht and the hand flour-mill. 
 After a long journc)' to visit a famil)-, he was 
 t^rcetcd b)' the mother with the not very i;ratifyin<r 
 intelh'fjcncc,' We ha\e not a morsel of bread' (there 
 had been a drought during the preceding )'ear, and 
 fl(jur was very scarce), 'but if you'll wait a little, 
 the wheat is about ripe.' With sickle in hand she 
 went to the ripe field, reaped a few handfuls, 
 thrashed the ears, the cracking noise of the hand 
 flour-mill instantly followed, and flour and bread 
 were speedily produced from the recently up- 
 standing ears of wheat. 
 
 Veils are in general use during hot weather in 
 summer as a protection against the flies, which are 
 very troublesome. In a time of severe drought, 
 in travelling the main lines of road, veils are 
 absolutely indispensable ; and the fabric of which 
 the}' are made requires to be of a much closer 
 texture than that which is usually worn. It is 
 impossible to travel even a short distance without 
 being enveloped in clouds of dust ; and the eyes, 
 ears, and no.strils are all liable to be stuffed with 
 fine sand. Veils would not seem, however, to form 
 any protection against the ' sandy ' and ' swelling 
 blight' — complaints of the eyes —to which some 
 persons, at this season of the year, are liable to be 
 affected. The ' sandy blight ' is so named from 
 the painful .sensation as of sand in the eyes ; the 
 ' swelling blight ' is not painful, and is attributed 
 to the sting of a small fl}-. They are both likely 
 to be occasioned, howe\er, by the dry, parched
 
 198 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 state of the atmosphere during the continuance of 
 hot winds. They do not continue long, and are 
 easily remediable by shading the eyes from the sun 
 and washing them \\ith weak goulard water. 
 
 However great the heat of the sun, whatever 
 the state of the roads, and however arduous 
 travelling may be, travelling must be done, at any 
 cost or sacrifice ; and bullock teams, with drays, 
 are alwa)-s to be met toiling slowly along, or, 
 occasionally, horse teams, moving at a much brisker 
 pace, the men in charge of them so besmeared with 
 dust, their faces so black — the perspiration pro- 
 ducing with the dust a coating of mud — that it is 
 impossible to distinguish the white teamsters from 
 those black ones, who are sometimes found in 
 charge of bullock drays from far distant stations, 
 and who have been taught the useful arts of life. 
 The teamsters on the road bear no proportion to 
 the number encamped at the water-holes and the 
 crossing places of rivers, who have been unable to 
 continue their journey in consequence of the weak 
 state of their bullocks, and the loss of some of 
 them by death. They are what is called ' stuck 
 up ' ; cannot move out of their place, and must 
 remain where they are until there is food on the 
 road, or till they get fresh bullocks which are able 
 to stand the journey. Carriage, as a necessary 
 consequence, rises to a high price, and there is no 
 alternative left to many, when crops have failed, 
 but to betake themselves to an occupation of which 
 they ne\er thought before — viz., carrying on the 
 road — showing how much manners and modes of
 
 DROUGHTS AND FLOODS 199 
 
 life may be influenced b)^ .1 coiinlr\-, and hfnv \'ain 
 it is to struggle against forces be)'ond all human 
 control. If a drought continues, and there is no 
 appearance of a change taking place, in the shape 
 of a fall of rain, the most doleful forebodings are 
 sometimes entertained b\' the stockholders in some 
 parts of the countr\-, of the calamits- which hangs 
 o\er them in the probable loss of their stock from 
 starvation and want of water ; whilst not a few 
 have their fears deeply embittered in reflecting on 
 the unfortunate error w hich they have committed 
 in burning so much of their runs. And it is in 
 cases of this nature that experience comes so much 
 to the aid of the Australian settler, in the making 
 of ' dams,' and guarding against the great danger 
 of ' overstocking.' 
 
 There were some stations where the extremely 
 distressing remedy was resorted to, of killing the 
 lambs and calves to save their mothers. A gentle- 
 man, whom I met on the road, said that he had 
 seen sixteen good horses dead in one water-hole. 
 They had gone there to drink, and had sunk in 
 the slimy bottom and perished. The superin- 
 tendent of a cattle station said that he had lost 
 seven hundred cows ; another superintendent said 
 that he had lost about one-third of the stock, and 
 that this was about the loss sustained b}- many 
 other stations. The sheep-farmers, in some parts 
 of the countr)-, also suffered great losses of sheep, 
 a fulfilment of predictions which I had heard from 
 very old colonists. 
 
 With respect to the very severe drought of 1 865
 
 200 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 and the beginning of 1866, which was felt over a 
 great part of Soutli Australia, Victoria, and New 
 South Wales, I think I cannot do better than give 
 the following notices, which occur in the Sydney 
 Morning Herald, of January 20th, 1866, with 
 reference to the last-named colony : 
 
 The first extract is remarkable as showing the 
 uncertain nature of Australian weather. 'Just a 
 week before Christmas (the middle of summer), the 
 frightful heat of the weather was suddenly arrested, 
 in the south and west, and for three days these 
 districts \\erc plunged into mid-winter. At Kiandra 
 there \\as a heavy fall of snow, which covered the 
 ground in some places to the depth of three feet ; 
 at Oueenbean, hail, rain, and sleet prevailed — whilst 
 on the heavy ranges south from that town, and on the 
 opposite side of the Murrumbidgee, a wintry coating 
 of snow lay until the Tuesday before Christmas. 
 Since then there has been one unbroken series of 
 fierce winds and burning heat. The thermometer 
 at various places and times has ranged from 1 20 to 
 140 degrees in the sun, and from 80 to loi degrees 
 in the shade. Relief has been temporarily given 
 by occasional thunder-storms, which, whilst they 
 have deluged the particular localities over which 
 they have burst, have been exceedingly partial in 
 their distribution of the blessed and much-looked- 
 for element — water. At Beza there has been no 
 rain for the last ten months. At Ulladulla there 
 has not been, for the last twelve months, a sufficient 
 fall of rain to penetrate one inch into the ground. 
 At the Wimmera, water is so scarce that the least
 
 DROUGHTS AM) FLOODS 201 
 
 valuable of the horse stock is bciti;^' shot, in order 
 to proloni^ the supply to the remainder ; and emus, 
 not usualh' seen in that c[uarter, come tamely up to 
 drink at the casks that have been filled for the 
 horses. A gentleman who reccntl}' travelled down 
 the Bland Creek, states that he saw no less than six 
 hundred head of dead cattle, in about twelve miles 
 from the creek. There are very few stations, in the 
 far west where a serviceable horse can be obtained. 
 Water is not to be had, except at distances ranging 
 from thirty-five to sixty-five miles apart, and, unless 
 these places are made, there is no chance of a 
 drink ; and, as is usual upon occasions like the 
 present, we hear occasionally of fearful deaths in 
 the bush, for the traveller who misses his road just 
 now is a doomed man. The long stretch of coun- 
 try lying between the Lachlan and the IMurrum- 
 bidgee, and known as the Levels, from its flat and 
 unbroken character, has suffered perhaps as severel}' 
 as any part of the countr}' ; and, as it has been 
 prett}' thickl}- settled upon, this suffering is all the 
 more distressing. Many of the residents have now 
 to send long distances fcM- water, and even that, 
 which is their whole dependence, will not, it is cal- 
 culated, last more than six weeks longer, should no 
 rain f;ill in the interim. Those water-holes are also 
 almost unapproachable, from the large number of 
 dead and d\'ing cattle that lie round them, the 
 former in all stages of decomposition. Owing to 
 the state of the country, it has become exceedingh* 
 difficult to get carriage for loading an}- great distance 
 into the interior, unless at \ery high rates. Bullock
 
 202 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 teams cannot possibly travel, and for horse teams, 
 the carriers have to take with them all the food re- 
 quired for the consumption of their animals. A 
 letter from Walget states that on one station, where 
 one hundred and twenty thousand sheep had been 
 guaranteed to the shearers, only sixty thousand could 
 be brought into the shed ; and that, on another station 
 in the same district, only one hundred and thirteen 
 thousand were shorn where there should have been 
 one hundred and eighty thousand.' In each case 
 the deficiency had been caused by deaths in the 
 flocks, owing to the want of food and the scarcity 
 of water. With reference to the large sheep farms in 
 Walget, an estimate of the extent of land which goes 
 to form one of them may be easily arrived at by 
 calculating five, six, or seven, as the number of acres 
 to a sheep which the land is estimated to carry. It 
 is an observation which I have heard old Australians 
 make, that when there were droughts in the south, 
 there was rain in the north, and vice versa. This 
 seems to have been the case in connection with this 
 drought, as there was no want of rain in Queens- 
 land. 
 
 One hundred, or even ten yards, of a New 
 Zealand stream or river, choked full of Captain 
 Cook's watercress, would be a prize indeed in the 
 interior of Australia at any time, but more especially 
 during a time of long-continued droughts ; it would 
 be something agreeable and refreshing for the eyes, 
 but it would be much more so to the palate in 
 seasoning the unvarying round of beef, tea, and 
 damper, or bread. The want of vegetables is often
 
 DROUGHTS AND FLOODS 203 
 
 severe!)- felt. The wealthy stock-owners arc usually 
 well provided in their stores with pickles and pre- 
 served potatoes, but these are too expensive articles 
 of consumption for the working people. Alon^^ the 
 coast, and on the dixiding ranges, pumpkins, all 
 the varieties of melons, English \egetables and fruit, 
 such as peaches and apricots, are grown plentifulh'. 
 In the interior, however, and where hot scorching 
 winds pre\ail in summer, the fruit is roasted on the 
 trees, and no succulent vegetable of any kind is 
 able to stand the withering heat. The human con- 
 stitution, both bodily and mentally, is a delicate 
 one. It was manifestly the design of the Creator, 
 in providing such fruits as grapes, peaches, oranges, 
 melons, &c., as the peculiar productions of a warm 
 climate, that the constitution should be supported 
 and cherished, that men should not mcrch' live, but 
 enjo}' life ; and there \\ould be less intemperance 
 heard of in Australia if those resources which nature 
 has provided were within reach of the people, during 
 the time of the occurrence of such droughts as those 
 which have been described. I have seen parts of 
 the coimtr}' in the high dividing ranges, which, 
 visited by thunder-storms, were as green as an 
 emerald, with waving fields of grain, pumpkins, 
 melon.s, potatoes, turnips, cabbages, carrots, and all 
 the other varieties of English vegetables, growing 
 in the greatest profusion, and where they had never 
 been known to fail. 
 
 When rain falls — and if it has been general and 
 plentiful, a drought is very soon forgotten — the 
 whole surface of the earth soon begins to smile, a
 
 204 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 carpet of the deepest green takes the place of all 
 that was dry and withered — and it is not in human 
 nature to resist the enchanting influence. ' A 
 drought will not come back again,' is the expression 
 whilst men dismiss from their minds all thoughts 
 of the occurrence of another drought, more especi- 
 ally at the board of festive entertainment. The 
 sudden change is remarkable, the grass grows 
 rapidly, and there would seem to be no limit to the 
 number of cattle, sheep, or horses, which the land is 
 capable of carrying, or to the crops of grain which 
 might be cultivated. The dryness of the air, and 
 the heat of the sun, however, soon change the 
 green appearance of the earth's surface into a 
 brown colour. A drought is most severely felt 
 during the spring and summer months, and may 
 prevail throughout the whole of August, Septem- 
 ber, October, November, December, and January. 
 Floods, of which there may be a succession, prevail 
 during the autumn and winter months, February, 
 March, April, May, June, July. If there is a con- 
 tinuation of two or three days' rain, which has been 
 general, a flood will inevitably follow. Graziers 
 look on, however, in such cases, with great 
 indifference, unless they have teams on the road, 
 and supplies for their stations unduly detained. It 
 is very different, however, with the small settlers, 
 and with gold-diggers, to whom travelling on the 
 road with heavily laden drays is almost impossible. 
 The rate of carriage ri.ses to an exorbitant figure, 
 and what with that rate and the consequent scarcity 
 of provisions, living becomes very expensive.
 
 DROUr.HTS AND FLOODS 205 
 
 There are storekcci^ers, hcnvever, w h(j lia\e antici- 
 pated all this, and who make a harvest both of 
 droui^hts and floods. I saw one ri\cr which had 
 risen forty feet within a few hours ; there are 
 other rivers which overflow their banks, carrying 
 destruction in their course, sweeping away fencing, 
 crops, sometimes houses, and spoiling the cultivated 
 land. The newspapers relate the stereotyped tales 
 of floods, great losses, exploits of men with boats 
 on the river, near the coast, and persons saved and 
 drowned. There is such a scarcity of water in 
 many places, that the possibility of being deluged 
 with it is about one of the last things thought of, 
 and is regarded as something of the nature of 
 ' being too good news to be true.' In rather a level 
 part of country in the interior where I had been, 
 and where it was difficult to get a drink of water, a 
 shepherd told me shortly afterwards that there was 
 an inland sea sixty miles in breadth— he meant 
 back waters. Whilst crossing a creek, a few days 
 after a flood, there was a hutkeeper standing with 
 a most rueful countenance ; he had lost, he said, 
 seventy pounds ; he was afraid to keep his money 
 in the hut, and for safety had concealed it in a 
 fallen tree ; but the flood had carried away the 
 fallen tree during the night, and with it his seventy 
 [){)unds. One of the earliest sheep-farmers in 
 Queensland told me that he once lost five thousand 
 sheep in consequence of a flood which he had not 
 anticipated — and which none of the other sheep- 
 farmers, who were also sufferers, had anticipated — 
 the river had risen high and suddenly, and, as no
 
 2o6 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 rain had fallen before, where they were situated, 
 the flood had come upon them unawares. 
 
 Agriculture is largely engaged in by those who 
 have other occupations and sources of income, inde- 
 pendently of their farms, such as carriers, sawyers, 
 storekeepers, innkeepers, &c. The greatest agri- 
 culturists are the graziers or squatters who are in 
 districts where the climate is favourable ; and they 
 have great advantages in folding their sheep on 
 the cultivated land, thus cleaning it of weeds and 
 enriching the soil. A failure in the crop of grain 
 does not incommode them much, however, as their 
 great mainstays are the crops of wool and the 
 increase of stock. South Australia is the only one 
 of the Australian colonies w^here wheat growing 
 has taken its place as the leading industrial pursuit, 
 and from which there are large exports of both 
 wheat and flour every year to the other colonies. 
 Chili and California are the two other principal 
 places upon which the people in Victoria, New 
 South Wales, and Queensland, have been hitherto 
 largely dependent for supplies of flour.
 
 207 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 CONVICTISM 
 
 Caution in the Use of the Word Convict— An Incorrigible— A 
 Settler Murdered — Singular Story of a Convict — Regretting not 
 being Executed — A Bonnymuir Rebel and a Stirling Clergyman 
 -Specials— Old Crawlers — A Mutilated Edinburgh Burglar- 
 Tasmania — Convicts and Emigrants -A Wolf in Sheep's Cloth- 
 ing — A Ninevite — Pointers or Professional Swindlers — Wealthy 
 Bushrangers and the New South Wales Government. 
 
 There is no word in the English language of 
 which one requires to make a more studied use in 
 Australia than the word 'convict.' It is entirely 
 erased from the vocabulary of those who desire to 
 ' Hve peaceably with all men,' and who have learned* 
 enough of the conventionalism of society to prevent 
 them from offending against its rules and maxims. 
 A celebrated writer, who did not form a very high 
 estimate of human nature, said that ' man never 
 forgives ' ; and it was with great truth that the 
 King of Israel, amid a choice of evils, chose the 
 least, and prayed, ' Let me not fall into the hand of 
 man.' 
 
 The question, 'What will we do with our con- 
 victs .' ' is one that has taxed the ingenuity of 
 those who have had more to do with them than any 
 others -who have had them in their employment
 
 2o8 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 as ' assigned servants ' from the Government. An 
 old naval officer, who was eminently qualified 
 to deal with them, had at one time a great number 
 of them in his service engaged in felling trees, in 
 fencing, &c. ; but there was one who would not 
 leave him after the expiration of his sentence. ' I 
 have had him flogged times without number,' he 
 said to the writer, who was staying one night at his 
 house. ' Not a whit was the man ever the better- 
 as incorrigible a scoundrel as ever was in this world ; 
 I have put a rope round his neck, and on horseback 
 dragged him after me back and forward through 
 that pond,' pointing towards a pond at some 
 distance from the house, ' but it was all of no use ' ; 
 and looking at me significantly he concluded, ' the 
 man will not leave my service.' The incorrigible 
 looked old and worn-out, and did not seem as if he 
 were able to go very far. He must have been so 
 habituated to punishment that it had become a 
 kind of necessity to him, and likely he felt at times 
 uneasy if he did not receive any ; all that was 
 human in his nature must have been well-nigh 
 lashed out of him, leaving nothing but something of 
 the nature of a spaniel dog. Though a stern and 
 rigorous taskmaster, the officer alluded to probably 
 acted justly and honestly towards his ' assigned 
 servants' ; and this was no doubt the ground of the 
 incorrigible's attachment to him. But masters of 
 this kind cannot be found always. One employer 
 of convicts, who was of a most niggardly dis- 
 position, the owner of a large and valuable property, 
 which had been made valuable by the labour of his
 
 I 
 
 CONVICTISM 209 
 
 convict servants, paid the penalty of his h'fe by a 
 bh'nd selfishness in supplying them with bad quality 
 of rations, and keeping them long at work. The 
 residue of a large fire, which contained some charred 
 human bones, was all that remained to testify to 
 the mystery of his disappearance. The men who 
 had been in his employment, every one of whom 
 were convicts, declared themselves innocent, and 
 nothing could be brought home to them. One of 
 tlicm, howc\'cr, wlio acted as cook, and who was 
 alwa}'s about the house, could not easily avoid 
 being suspected of knowing something regarding 
 his master's death. On regaining his liberty he 
 married, became a man well to do in the world, 
 with a fine }-oung family of children growing up 
 around him. Compared to the taking away of life, 
 all other crimes would seem to be as shadows ; and 
 though he never confessed the murder there were 
 not wanting indications of a fearfull}- troubled mind, 
 especialh' in the fact that he frequently retired and 
 held communion with the dark places of the forest 
 at midnight hours. 
 
 ' Truth is stranger than fiction.' A lad about 
 sixteen years of age was sentenced, at the Inverness 
 Circuit Court, to fourteen years' penal servitude for 
 sheep-stealing. The grazier who laid the accusation 
 against him deeply regretted afterwards that he 
 had done so, as his own sons had been the in- 
 stigators to the crime. The law must take its 
 course, however, and nothing that he could do 
 could avail to obtain the lad's release from the 
 hands of justice. Being much interested in him, 
 
 P
 
 CIO AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 and acquainted with a settler in New South Wales, 
 he gave him a letter to be delivered to the settler 
 when he arrived there. For greater security he 
 sewed the letter in the lining of the lad's jacket. 
 The lad forgot all about the letter, until it dropped 
 one day, when his jacket had gone to tatters. 
 Singularly enough, the letter was directed to his 
 employer, to whom he had been assigned by the 
 Government. The document was of considerable 
 service to him ; he was afterwards promoted to 
 the situation of overseer, and a large number of 
 men were placed under his charge. He gained the 
 reputation of being an execrable tyrant, however, 
 and he supplied all that he wanted in common sense 
 and knowledge of mankind by the lash. The 
 want of education, and knowledge of keeping 
 accounts, were a sad hindrance to his advancement 
 in the world. It was from the class of overseers 
 who were at that time employed that many of the 
 wealthiest settlers have sprung, and he almost 
 stood alone in failing to avail himself of advantages 
 and opportunities which had been so easily placed 
 within his reach. 
 
 It has been said that guilt receives more pro- 
 tection than innocence : and it is remarkable what 
 an amount of interest is taken in a great criminal — 
 what sympathy is excited as to his fate — what a 
 large place he occupies in public attention, and 
 how strong is the desire for obtaining information 
 regarding him. No item of intelligence concern- 
 ing him comes amiss ; how he sleeps, what he says, 
 and what he does are chronicled as subjects of the
 
 CONVICTISM 211 
 
 greatest public concern ; whilst it is probable that 
 no sympathy or concern of any kind will be at the 
 same time extended to those who have been 
 grievousl}' wronged and injured beyond all calcula- 
 tion b\' him. If a reprieve has been granted, and 
 the great criminal, instead of being sent to the 
 scaffold, is transported for life, the news is heralded 
 far and wide, and takes its place in the latest tele- 
 graphic intelligence, along it may be with announce- 
 ments of the movements of the members of the Royal 
 family, and other matters of great national interest. 
 It may be interesting to those who take delight in 
 the horrible, to be informed that their sympathies 
 may be sometimes misplaced in behalf of a great 
 criminal, and that the satisfaction which they 
 receive on hearing that he is not to be executed is 
 sometimes unnecessary. I certainly knew of one 
 man who had been sentenced to be executed, and 
 who was reprieved (the sentence of death being 
 transmuted into transportation for life), who com- 
 plained to me that he had not been executed. * I 
 was ready to die then,' he said, ' but am not ready 
 now ; a worse man than ever I was.' 
 
 It serves to illustrate the large possession which 
 clergymen hold in the minds of those with whom 
 they have to do, that actions which they themselves 
 may think little of at the moment, sink down deep 
 into the hearts of others, and may serve, as in the 
 case of the person I am about to refer to, as subject 
 for some minds to ruminate on to the close of the 
 latest lifetime. The circumstances of the case of 
 this individual are somewhat extraordinary. He
 
 212 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 was one of the 'Bonn)-muii' rebels' sentenced to 
 transportation for life ; but had received a free 
 pardon, after a number of years' servitude, having 
 been all the time employed by Government — a great 
 advantage, he thought, preferable to having his lot 
 cast into the hands, it might be, of some ignorant 
 and tyrannical master. He was confined, he said 
 to me, forty days and nights in the ' den ' of Stirling 
 Castle, with very little daylight and fresh air, and 
 scarcely enough of food to keep life in the body. 
 One of the town clergymen came to visit him and 
 the other prisoners ; he pleaded strongly with him 
 to bring him some food ; he came next day and 
 gave him a bible ! The man never seemed to have 
 been able to forget this ; morning, evening, and 
 midday, it was the theme of his discourse, the 
 clergyman being the subjectofdeep,bitter, vehement 
 abuse and outcry. All the badness which this world 
 could produce was in that man, and a favourite 
 figure of speech of his was to make use of the 
 clergyman's name when he wished to express 
 horror or detestation of anything. ' I kept the 
 bible,' he said, and he showed it to me ; ' but — ' 
 In all probability the clergyman was the last person 
 wath whom he had any friendly intercourse at home, 
 and the pangs of hunger, disappointment, and insult 
 which he felt on being presented with the bible in- 
 stead of food, had caused a deep wound in his heart 
 — a wound which always opened and bled at every 
 thought that occurred to him in his exile of the land 
 of his birth, his relations, and all that he had on 
 earth ; and it is always to the last link in the chain
 
 COXVICTISM 213 
 
 that was broken (luring' sci)aration from liomc that 
 the thoughts of the exile are first cast, and the heart 
 looks first to be united to — the last friendly or un- 
 friendly word that was spoken — the last hillside that 
 was seen, the last i)artin^ farewell ; and of how 
 much service would a little kindness have been to 
 this man, who believed that he was fighting for the 
 liberties of his country, if on leaving that land for 
 which he suffered, and was suffering so much, there 
 had been, as it were, some lovely spot in his father- 
 land upon which he might at times lay his weary 
 head and aching heart to rest ? On regaining his 
 iberty he saved his earnings carefully, and pur- 
 chased a piece of land. A knowledge of the 
 industrial pursuits of the colony, which he had 
 acquired during his servitude, enabled him to judge 
 correct]}', and make a wise imestment of his savings 
 and his own labour. The uncertainty of the seasons 
 dissuaded him from agriculture. Orange trees had 
 been introduced, and were found to suit the climate. 
 Accordingly, he prepared part of his land for the 
 purpose of an orangery ; and within a very few 
 years the young trees which he had planted brought 
 him the means of an easy and comfortable liveli- 
 hood. They had grown to a ver}- large size, and 
 his small, unpretending dwelling-house was nearly 
 concealed in the midst of the thick green foliacfe 
 all dotted over with oranges, like spheres of gold. 
 
 A laudable consideration was shown by the 
 Government to a class of convicts belonging to what 
 are usually st)-led ' the upper classes of society,' and 
 who \\cre known by the name of ' specials.' A
 
 214 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 settlement was set apart for them, and they were 
 exempted from severe manual labour. One of them 
 made himself very useful, like many others, by 
 teaching in families ; he was wont to receive letters 
 from his wife and daughters ; but it would have 
 been kindness to him not to have written so fre- 
 quently, as he became quite unmanned on hearing 
 from any of them, and weeks would elapse before 
 he could summon fortitude to open the letters and 
 read their contents. There were many whose wives 
 and families joined them in their exile ; in some 
 instances this was an advantage, but unfortunately 
 the habits of some of them were so entirely changed^ 
 that they might almost, with some propriety, be 
 said not to be the same individuals ; and a union, 
 however blest it might have been at home, did not 
 always promise to be the same when entered on 
 again under entirely different circumstances. 
 
 Many of them, who had received tickets-of- 
 leave, and others who had served their time under 
 Government for the full period of their sentence, 
 bore the brunt of the battle with the aborigines in 
 entering into the serxice of the pioneers, and were 
 the first to take up country for grazing. The 
 pastoral life, following flocks of sheej), and riding 
 after cattle, was a much more agreeable and pre- 
 ferable occupation to them than clearing land and 
 working at farms under a scorching sun. They are 
 now scattered over all the occupied interior, and 
 are mostly debilitated old men, to whom the settlers 
 gave the name of ' old crawlers.' There was one 
 ^\■ith whom 1 met who presented a frightful spec-
 
 I 
 
 CONVICTISM 215 
 
 tacle — very distrcssin<T to look upon. I had 
 incidentally heard from the owner of a station that 
 the blacks had been violent when he took jjossession 
 of the country which he occupied, had killed some 
 of his shepherds, and that one man, after being 
 fearfully mangled, had recovered most unexpectedly. 
 This was the very man. His head thrown back 
 <n-er his shoulders had remained fixed in the same 
 position in which the blacks had left him, they 
 having belie\ed that he was dead. 1 le was greatly 
 shocked on learning that I had never heard of him 
 in Scotland. ' I thought,' he said, 'every one had 
 heard of iiic there.' On jjutting the question to 
 him, his fame, it appeared, was founded on some 
 burglaries which he had committed in the New Town 
 of Edinburgh, and which had been blazed abroad 
 as cases which had displayed great daring and 
 dexterity ! 
 
 There can be no doubt whatever of the 
 material advantages — of the boon, in fact — which 
 transportation was to a large number of criminals. 
 They were placed in a much better position than 
 the}- would have been in Great Britain and Ireland 
 for acquiring wealth and independence. Many of 
 them never served out the period of their sentence ; 
 good behaviour was rewarded by a ticket-of-leave, 
 and they were entirely free to dispose of their 
 labour to their own best advantage. They have 
 been the most migratory class of the community, 
 and will be found dispersed over all the Australian 
 colonies. I heard an old clergyman in Tasmania, 
 better known as Van Diemen's Land, stoutK' main-
 
 3i6 AUSTRALIA AS IT TIS 
 
 taining that there were fewer old convicts there in 
 proportion to free emigrants than in any of the 
 settlements in Australia ; and this notwithstanding 
 the immense number who had been transported 
 there. It is very common at the antipodes for 
 persons to change their names when they wish to 
 make a fresh start in life. It will not be always 
 found prudent to permit one's mind to be much 
 influenced against old convicts. I have known 
 some of them take pride in asserting that there 
 was more crime committed by free emigrants than 
 by old convicts. This may not be the case. There 
 is no denying, however, that the refuse of Great 
 Britain and Ireland has always been deemed 
 eligible as emigrants to the Australian colonies. 
 
 It is not easy escaping the conviction, and it 
 has never been, I presume, attempted to be denied, 
 that convictism has tended in no small degree to 
 give a distinct character and complexion to certain 
 phases of Australian life which it would not have 
 otherwise worn, and a knowledge of this constitutes 
 no small part of that much vaunted ' colonial 
 experience,' extolled as the foundation of success. 
 ' What is the use of a friend,' I have heard one 
 man say, ' but to take the use of him ? ' Very 
 comforting doctrine this, and the friendships of 
 some people are more to be dreaded than their 
 enmities. The following arc not bad illustrations 
 of this kind of friendship. The Reverend Thomas 
 James was a )'oung clergyman newly arrived from 
 England, entrusted with the establishment of a 
 mission in the interior of New South Wales, in
 
 CONVICTISM 217 
 
 connection with the Church to which he belonged. 
 The commencement is always the most trying and 
 difficult part of the work. The giving of money 
 to a ball, a horse-race, or a circus, people are alwa)'s 
 ready enough to understand the propriety of, but 
 giving money towards the erection of a church, or 
 the maintenance of a clergyman, is another thing 
 altogether. A man will disburse a hundred [)ounds 
 for a box at a theatre, or spend as much in one 
 night's feasting, but a ' shilling !' — 'no,' he 'could 
 not afford it ' towards a charitable object. He 
 speaks the truth here cjuite correctl}', ' he cannot 
 afford it,' and it would be downright punishment 
 for him to give an\-thing ; the task would be as 
 great as it would be for an infant to lift a millstone 
 from the earth. It is all easily understood, a new 
 class of sentiments arc called into operation — the 
 benevolent ones, naturally, perhaps not very strong, 
 and weak from want of exercise, cannot bear the 
 pressure of any weight being laid upon them. 
 IManysuch persons are more to be pitied than con- 
 demned. If it comes to a parley, the amount of 
 human ingenuity displayed in evading the question 
 is astonishing. The man labours with all his soul 
 to find out excuses, and pleads as strongl)' as if it 
 was for his own life, that he might be spared ; and 
 no general on the battle-field .scans the ground 
 more keenl}', takes a wider range of vision in 
 guarding the outposts, and providing against the 
 danger of a sudden attack, that he may not be 
 worsted in his conflict with the enemy. There is 
 always more lost than gained by these contributors.
 
 2i8 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 They are always certain to fall upon the stratagem 
 for escaping giving money by finding fault with 
 the object of it. The inventive faculty is set busily 
 to work, and when the object is a clergyman it 
 often appears as if all the faults are found with him 
 which can be found. The clergyman may not be 
 much to their favour or liking, but it is well for 
 these Croesuses to be put in mind of the Divine 
 ordinance of the Christian ministry, that it is simply 
 for them to do their duty, leaving the clergyman 
 to do his ; and that if all were to act as they do, 
 Divine institutions would perish from the earth. 
 There was a mission fund, a building fund, and 
 other funds in favour of which the Reverend 
 Thomas James was endeavouring to enlist the 
 sympathies of the people amongst whom he w^as 
 labouring. He was a popular preacher, was well 
 received at the stations, embryo townships, and 
 gold-fields, which he periodically visited. In this 
 ardent monetary undertaking, it was almost im- 
 possible for him not to conceive a personal attach- 
 ment towards a man who had always manifested 
 the greatest interest in his welfare, and who was a 
 liberal contributor to the funds. This person re- 
 presented himself as coming into the district with 
 a view to commence a store on an extensive scale. 
 Mr. James had a heart above suspicion, and, as the 
 man had no house of his own at the time, he 
 kindly invited him to make his house his home. 
 The offer was thankfully accepted, and this was 
 really all that the person desired for his liberal 
 contribution to the funds, and the interest which
 
 CONVICTISM 219 
 
 he liad taken in Mr. James. He wa.s known 
 everywhere afterwards as the clergyman's friend, 
 and was trusted by every one accordingly as a 
 highly respectable man. ^Vccompanying Mr. 
 James in his journeys, he was admitted into the 
 privacy of domestic circles — knew all about the 
 mail and the money that was being sent down to 
 S)'dncy. The mail had been several times ' stuck 
 up ' and robbed, but not a ray of suspicion ever 
 flashed across the mind of any one that it was the 
 clergyman's friend who had really been committing 
 all the depredations. As a crowning feat of 
 inipudent rascality, and taking still greater ad- 
 vantages of the shelter which the clergyman un- 
 wittingly afforded him for carrying on his nefarious 
 business, he accompanied him to Sydney — paid all 
 the expenses of the journey, and procured an 
 introduction, through Mr. James, to the wealthy 
 merchants in connection with the church of the 
 latter. The merchants were delighted with the 
 new country connection, and the prospect of the 
 large profits with which these country connections 
 are usually attended. Mr. James's acquaintance 
 with their new customer was a sufificient guarantee 
 of the latter's trustworthiness, and they gave him 
 credit to the amount of three thousand pounds' 
 worth of merchandise. The packages of mer- 
 chandise were forwarded to their destination up 
 the countr}-, but never reached that destination. 
 The addresses were altered at a small shipping 
 port, where they were landed, put on board a vessel 
 for California, and nothing was afterwards seen or
 
 220 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 heard of the clergyman's friend. White savages 
 arc a thousand times worse than black. It is in- 
 sulting, in fact, to humanity to compare them to 
 human beings — they arc like vultures, with out- 
 stretched wings, floating in the air, looking out for 
 pre}' or reptiles, creeping stealthily on the ground. 
 Perhaps, indeed, they may be compared with 
 nothing so favourably as the boa constrictor, which 
 first covers with its saliva the object it prepares to 
 devour. ' What a fool,' said a ' gentleman ' once 
 to me in Sydney, ' your friend is ; he has bought 
 that place from me ; he might have had it a 
 thousand pounds cheaper ; however, it is so much 
 in my pocket.' This 'Ninevite' happily united a 
 certain business with a lodging-house, which was 
 well known. My friend, with his wife and family, 
 had been staying at the lodging-house, paying for 
 their board. Strangers in the town, it was almost 
 impossible to be insensible to the attention bestowed 
 upon them, or indifferent to the advice tendered to 
 them in the name of the sincerest friendship. 
 They were honest, believing people, and considered 
 other people to be as honest as themselves. They 
 had been living in their sylvan solitude in the 
 interior for a very long period, by a life of per- 
 .severing industry had saved a few thousand pounds, 
 and had come to pass the end of their days within 
 .sound of the Sabbath bells in the beautiful town of 
 Sydney. In addition to the thousand pounds 
 which their ' friend ' confessed to have robbed them 
 of, he led them completely astray by false in- 
 formation, and might be said to have almost ruined
 
 CON\'ICTISM 221 
 
 them, as thc)- would have to begin the world anew. 
 There are cool, calculating persons to be met with 
 whose minds are whetted like a keen instrument in 
 the pursuit of gain ; all mankind is their lawful 
 prey, and when they succeed, they claim an 
 intellectual superiority — esteem themselves 'clever' 
 — whilst their villainies redound to their honour 
 and credit. In colonial phraseology, ' pointers ' is 
 the name by which such persons arc usually dis- 
 tinguished and stigmatized ; that is, they follow 
 the pursuit of gain as pointers do game, are always 
 on thc watch for ignorant and unsuspecting persons^ 
 whom they are never so likely to succeed in 
 plundering as under the guise of friendship. 
 
 It is right to ' give thc devil his due,' as the 
 proverb says, and there should not be laid to the 
 charge of convicts that which they have \er}' little 
 to do with, ' bushranging.' The bushrangers of the 
 present day are )-oung men who ha\e grown up 
 wild in the bush— mostly stockmen — who have 
 become accustomed to galloping after horses and 
 cattle, and to following a thieving mode of life, -by 
 taking horses and cattle to which they have no 
 right. That it is not destitution which prompts 
 man>' of them to lead a life of highway robbery is 
 clear enough from thc fact of some of them being 
 very wealthy. One Jamieson, a mere lad, inherited, 
 when in prison, twenty thousand pounds, which 
 were forfeited to the Government. Hall, who was 
 shot by a policeman, and whom the Hon. John 
 Robertson called the ' king of the bushrangers,' was 
 also a mere youth and the owner of a station.
 
 322 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 Bushranging had not been heard of for about thirty- 
 years previously, and was not resumed until after 
 the advent of manhood suffrage. It broke out 
 when the people's passions were excited in the 
 universal cry of ' Free selection before survey ' — 
 the right to go and settle anywhere they liked ; and, 
 when the Legislature of New South Wales, pander- 
 ing to the passions of the people, passed a law for 
 them to go and settle anywhere they liked, with 
 the addition of a bounty of fifteen shillings in the 
 pound credit to all who would settle on the land. 
 
 The love of applause is common to young men 
 in the bush, as it is common to young men else- 
 where : and it must have been highly pleasing to 
 these desperadoes to find their names, with accounts 
 of the robberies which they had committed, pro- 
 minently mentioned in the public press, with no 
 less a personage than the Hon. John Robertson, 
 who had been Premier, pronouncing one of them 
 to be a ' king.' In a different state of society, and 
 in another country, these young men would have 
 led a forlorn hope in entering the breach in a 
 fortress, and would have filled the trenches with 
 their dead bodies for their comrades to pass over. 
 Under a good government they might have been 
 valuable members of society. Scores of mounted 
 policemen, with Government contracts for their 
 maintenance as if for an army, in pursuit of bush- 
 rangers, and a reward of five thousand pounds for 
 the capture of five of them, dead or alive, is very 
 expensive work. It would be indicative of greater 
 economy, one would suppose, if the Government
 
 CONVICTISM 223 
 
 of New South Wales, instead of making a law for 
 people to scatter themselves, would form settle- 
 ments, where they might all be brought within the 
 healing influences of society, and receive the benefits 
 of education and religion. 
 
 Whatever evils New South Wales may have 
 inherited from convictism, demagogues have proved 
 themselves the greatest criminals, and have done 
 more injury than convicts.
 
 224 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ADVENTURES 
 
 Auchterarder and Strathbogie — Old Convict — Lost in the Bush — 
 Cattle and Sheep Stations —A Bush Scene — Survival of the 
 Fittest — Squatter's Baptism — Fatal Consequence —Wise Shep- 
 herd — Floods — Fatalities — Clergyman Drowned — Squatter 
 Drowned in Sight of his Family — New Zealand — Bishop Selwyn 
 — Homily to Maori Crew — Young Gentleman— Pioneering — 
 Killed by the Blacks— Stooping to Conquer — Colonial Ex- 
 perience—Wealthy Settlers — Droughts — Hair-breadth Escapes. 
 
 The I'rce Church of Scotland cut the ground 
 complete!}' underneath my feet at the antipodes, 
 and left me with one solitary adherent, a Strath- 
 bogie man, and I know more of the Free Church of 
 Scotland than any one alive. I was present the 
 very day, an eye-witness, of the presentation to the 
 Rev. Robert Young, being laid on the table of 
 Auchterarder Presbytery the beginning of the ten 
 years' conflict and the P>ee Church of Scotland. 
 My solitary adherent, a Strathbogie man, Mr. 
 Gordon, M.L.A., New South Wales, suggested the 
 best thing I could do for myself was to leave, 
 ' persecuted in one city flee to another.' There is a 
 parish here without a single Presbyterian Minister, 
 ten or twenty times larger than all the parishes of
 
 ADVENTURES 225 
 
 Scotland. I will al\va}-s find plenty to do. The 
 Rev. Dr. Clark, of St. Andrew's, Edinburgh, well 
 acquainted with me, offered me a.ssi.stancc from the 
 Colonial Mission, of which he was the head. I 
 declined to receive money from Scotland to fight 
 against the I'ree Church ; a hundred pounds from 
 the government and some of my own served me to 
 get along. There was jireaching at e\er)' place I 
 halted for the night ; all called in to hear the 
 parson, no matter what church they belonged to. 
 At one place an old convict was much affected, 
 could not cease from crying. Never knew or heard 
 of such a thing as this before,, free forgiveness 
 through Jesus Christ, my theme being ' wounded 
 for our transgressions/ and he asked his employer 
 to give me all the money that was coming to him. 
 Sleeping out at night under the glorious starry 
 firmament beside a creek or river, hobbling the horse 
 and making a saddle a pillow, was of very frequent 
 occurrence, and there was a terrestrial blessedness 
 here which those who dwell in kings' palaces might 
 justly envy— only careful of the horse-rug in which 
 I had wrapt myself, a snake did not get into the 
 folds, and this was easily avoided by a fire blazing 
 alongside. I never took kindly to the unvarying 
 menu, salt junk and damper (bread made from 
 dough put into a heap of hot ashes) ; a box of 
 raisins and bag of ship biscuits I found far more 
 serviceable. By stowing some of this in my valise, I 
 felt proof against what was certain to occur, starva- 
 tion in being lost in the bush, for there were really 
 no roads, only blazes in the trees directing from 
 
 Q
 
 226 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 one place to another, and some of these trees would 
 disappear from bush fires. In passing, a shepherd 
 said he had come on the remains of a man in some 
 high ridges. It was evident here the lost one had 
 been a stranger or he never would have gone to 
 high ridges ; when lost, he would have been familiar 
 with the well known adage, ' Keep to the fall of 
 the water, sure to come to some place.' It was 
 an exciting time for me. There was a continual 
 riding and tossing about on horseback, cattle 
 stations and sheep stations six, ten, and twenty 
 miles apart, often clambering over rocks and through 
 brushwood to find out the abode of a shepherd who 
 wanted his children baptized. In well regulated 
 stations, Sunday will be found well observed, all 
 doffing their Sunday attire at the head station, and 
 attending religious service in the proprietor's house ; 
 nothing possibly could be more commendable ; a 
 line, however, requires to be drawn somewhere, and 
 if drawn anywhere, drawn here, administering the 
 sacrament ; one, well known to me, must have ' got 
 mixed,' failed to understand where the lay element 
 ceased and where the clerical element commenced. 
 Certain it is he committed himself to baptize a child 
 at his religious service on Sunday, and it is a most 
 remarkable fact, that child was afterwards acci- 
 dentally burnt to death, the only one instance I 
 ever knew of a child being burnt to death. It is 
 needless to say they would have nothing more to 
 do with squatter baptisms. It was rather a large 
 order from a customer or parishioner, Peter Mc 
 Grathe, a journey of some hundreds of miles, to
 
 ADVENTURES 227 
 
 baptize his children ; as well go the way of Peter 
 as anywhere else, must go somewhere. On arriving 
 at the out-station where Peter was employed, I 
 could not avow asking : ' What on all the earth 
 could have induced you to go so far inland ? ' The 
 answer was very intelligible : ' My wife w ould have 
 ruined me ; always shop, shopping ; I determined 
 to take her away, where she could not get near a 
 shop.' I had heard of needles being sold at a 
 shilling a-piece, and what the cost of a love of a 
 bonnet and all the paraphernalia of a lady in full 
 feather might be I really do not know, never having 
 had a wife, and knowing nothing at all of the 
 amenities that must exist between man and wife ; 
 had nothing to say in regard to this matter as to 
 Peter acting rightly or wrongly ; there is this much 
 I am certain of, Peter, according to his own account 
 of himself, was no fool. ' I have come to Australia 
 and mean to make the most of it. My boys are 
 all shepherding forty pounds a year each, thirty 
 pounds a )'ear myself as hut-keeper, everything 
 provided except clothing. In a short time I will 
 have a few hundred pounds together and go and 
 settle in New Zealand.' 
 
 I must have owed my life sometimes to being 
 a good swimmer. There is one advantage in know- 
 ing to swim, confidence in crossing creeks and 
 rivers when in a flooded state, careful above all 
 things when it comes to swimming to keep clear of 
 the horse, fatalities occurring in the rider being 
 killed by a kick of the horse from being near it in 
 the water. If there are ' perils of waters ' there are 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 far greater perils in not being well-skilled in horse- 
 flesh, two }'oung clergymen of the Church of 
 England situated as I was, in adjoining districts, 
 losing their lives, one by a fall from his horse, the 
 other by drowning. There are some horses trust- 
 worthy, others again, and the great bulk of them, 
 altogether untrustworthy. There are small sheets 
 of water ever presenting themselves, in travelling 
 over which a child might be supposed easily to 
 wade. An ill-bred lumbering beast of a horse at 
 the call of the rider would go slapdash into this 
 sheet of water, and drown itself and rider in a hole 
 twenty or thirty feet deep that has been scooped 
 out by a flood. A trustworthy horse would do 
 nothing of the sort, take good care of itself, and 
 therefore good care of the rider, unless it found 
 a stranger on its back, and there is no knowing 
 what might here take place ; and I know of no good 
 reason why a breeder of good horses should not be 
 canonised, his name emblazoned on the roll of 
 cardinals and other great people as a pillar of the 
 Church ; this much is certain, but for the fortunate 
 incident of meeting with a well-bred horse, I would 
 not be alive to-day to tell the tale. The sagacity 
 of this animal was amazing. Lost, as I was scores 
 of times, I had nothing more to do than to throw 
 the reins over the neck, and there it would lead me, 
 straight as an arrow, to the place I was going to, 
 if it had been there before. At any dangerous 
 crossing place, it would be certain to test the trust- 
 worthiness of the ground by beating with its fore- 
 feet.
 
 ADVENTURES 229 
 
 The horse-racing and stecplechasing in Great 
 Britain arc poor tame exhibitions of a horse's 
 prowess in comparison of what may be often 
 witnessed in the Greater l^ritain, an old nag 
 heading a mob of wild cattle or horses. Seeing 
 what it has to do, it might be almost heard saying 
 to the rider,' Now, young man, look out, take good 
 care of )'ourself!' Off it goes at a rattling pace, 
 leaping over fallen timber, alighting on the ground 
 again like a bird (learned this from youth upwards), 
 down and up gullies, on, on, glorying in the chase, 
 it may be from morning till night. The horses or 
 cattle, never having had such a hard tussling as 
 this, obliged to give in, can stand it no longer, 
 the old nag with her greater powers of endurance 
 proving one too many for them ; no help for it 
 but to allow themselves to be driven into the 
 stockyard as quietly as a flock of sheep. The old 
 nag has done the whole business, the rider having 
 had nothing to do but to take care of himself The 
 sorry part of the business is the little outcome of 
 the old nag's heroic exploit, the owner of one of 
 these mobs of wild horses telling me all he received 
 for them was twenty-five shillings a-piece for ex- 
 port to India. 
 
 Of all the revolting sights under the canopy of 
 heaven there surely never was anything to be com- 
 pared to this, the murderous onslaught by stock- 
 men with loaded rifles on those beautiful creatures, 
 young calves, left to die on the ground ^s food for 
 carrion crows. Inquiring as to their object in this, 
 the answer was, ' We are exterminating the breed
 
 230 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 of them.' Cattle, horses, and sheep it seems all tend 
 to deteriorate, and an infusion of new blood is 
 necessary to their growing to the perfection of their 
 nature, and know as little of the doctrine, survival 
 of the fittest, as bees, ants, and spiders. In these 
 days, when nature must be made to unlock and 
 deliver up all her secrets, it would be an admirable 
 subject of investigation for the savants, the fittest 
 of survival of the race of mankind. My old 
 class fellows, Lord Kelvin, Principals Caird and 
 Cunningham, might be safely entrusted as experts 
 to probe this matter to the very bottom. The 
 churches would be immensely interested in the 
 result of their research, seemingly in a maze and 
 haze about this raising such a dust, like the woman in 
 the gospel sweeping the house to find this precious 
 treasure, the survival of the fittest, in the lost piece 
 of silver. If they had only the good sense of the 
 woman to light their candle with the ' light that 
 lighteth every man that cometh into the world,' 
 they would see they were in search of the survival 
 of the fittest in those 'fit for the Kingdom.' 'Love 
 your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good 
 to them that hate you, and pray for them which 
 despitcfully use you and persecute you.' Im- 
 possible, no one of the race of Adam can do this ; 
 but there is nothing impossible to one of the race 
 of the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. 
 
 There is something in those Australian creeks 
 and rivers when in high flood, that will baffle the 
 skill of the best swimmer in the world. One whose 
 hospitality I enjoyed very often, on returning from
 
 ADVENTURES 231 
 
 Sydney after arraiiLjiiiL; cverythinj^ in rcc^^ard to his 
 station — and there will be frequently as many as 
 twenty or thirty hands employed at a station — 
 found the ri\er in front of his homestead in hi^h 
 flood. He was an experienced man, and thouc^ht 
 he knew all about floods ; all the debris was carried 
 down, and apparently no danger in swimming 
 across the river, and he must either do this or be 
 out all night without food or shelter. There were 
 the children on the other side standing and scream- 
 ing with delight, ' Mother, mother, father has come ! ' 
 Mother comes out with baby in her arms, and all 
 the family are congregated on the margin of the 
 swollen rixer seeing father swim across. He had 
 not swam any distance, when a log underneath the 
 surface came dashing against him, and carried him 
 away in the foaming waters as a twig, no more seen 
 forever. It was a truly melancholy sight. I must 
 have crossed that river dozens of times and not 
 seen as much water in many parts of it that would 
 suffice to drown a kitten, at other times a volume 
 of u'atcr sufficient to float an ironclad. If the art 
 of swimming is a desirable clerical acquisition in 
 the lines of un{)leasant places in Australia, the art 
 of swimming would seem to be equally desirable in 
 the clerical lines of unpleasant places in New 
 Zealand. I give the story as told me by a 
 W'eslej'an Missionary in a sojourn there in the 
 forties, regarding Bishop Selwyn. The dangerous 
 coast of New Zealand was not at that time well 
 surveyed, and he had the greatest difficulty in 
 threading his way with his missionary craft in the
 
 232 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 interminable labyrinths of bays and inlets and 
 sunken rocks far out to sea. He found one day 
 his missionary craft had sprung a leak. Nothing 
 daunted he threw himself over the side of his vessel, 
 dived underneath it, and stopped the leak with 
 pitch. The homily of the Bishop to his Maoii crew 
 on the occasion is well worth recording. ' Noah's 
 ark was pitched within and without. The only 
 known preservative against all the woes and foes 
 of the world within and without is the pitch, the 
 atonement, the blood and righteousness of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Many are drowned in destruction 
 and perdition, sink and perish in the deep sea of 
 desperation and misery, all from want of the pitch. 
 You must here learn to be wise unto salvation, 
 and to work out your own salvation, and your 
 peace shall be as a river and righteousness as the 
 waves of the sea. Let all the sorrows and miseries 
 of the world come rolling and dashing against you 
 like the waves of the ocean, the pitch will come too. 
 Gaining experience in the daily use and handling 
 of the pitch in closing up every rent you will have 
 good hope of your frail vessel reaching safely the 
 haven of rest, where there shall be no more sea, 
 and a long story ever afterwards to tell of the 
 wonderful life-preserving pitch.' 
 
 Engaged in ministerial duty on the borders 
 of what is now Queensland, I was invited to a 
 merry gathering and to take a very prominent 
 part indeed — unite in wedlock a young lady to one 
 of two young gentlemen, not long arrived from 
 the mother land to take up country and engage
 
 ADVENTURES 233 
 
 in that great business, squatting ; the bait here 
 was and still remains in Northern Australia tre- 
 mendous, as much land as all the kingdom of Fife 
 for five pounds a year. The young gentlemen 
 departed some time afterwards on their exploring 
 expedition, never anything more seen or heard of 
 I never shared the opinion entertained by many — - 
 killed by the blacks ; there w^ould have been 
 tidings of this in some of their belongings being 
 seen in their possession, roaming about the dif- 
 ferent stations. In a conversation with one of the 
 early pioneers of Queensland, he made some very 
 pertinent remarks in regard to the danger new 
 arrivals exposed themselves to in fjimiliarity with 
 the aborigines. He mentioned particularly a 
 family of the name Eraser ; he warned them 
 repeatedly of the peril the}' were exposing them- 
 selves to in allowing the blacks to come so near 
 their homestead, giving them sugar, flour, tobacco, 
 for some small services, or opossum skins. 
 The warning was unheeded. One day the stock- 
 man came galloping to his place in a great way ; 
 the family were all killed by the blacks. On re- 
 turning with him, the sight he saw was something 
 horrible, beyond description or conception ; every- 
 one of the family of ten speared, cut, and hacked 
 by boomerangs and wad)-s as ruthlessly as if they 
 had been a bed of nettles. I was at a station 
 where exactly the same thing took place ; whole 
 family killed except two little girls, who were 
 fortunately from home at the time of the disaster, 
 and from the same cause, familiarity with the
 
 234 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 aborigines. There are few stations in which there 
 will not be found a solitary aboriginal, making 
 himself most useful in going messages, mustering 
 cattle and horses, and breaking-in buck-jumping 
 horses, but these solitary aboriginals will always be 
 found to belong to tribes in distant localities. It 
 seems to be a law of existence of the aborigines, 
 one tribe always at war with another tribe. It 
 would have been vastly more to the advantage of 
 the young gentlemen and all their sorrowing 
 friends and relations, including the sadly discon- 
 solate young widow, if they had ' stooped to con- 
 quer,' served two or three years' apprenticeship to 
 an old squatter, tutored in here to all the in- 
 numerable and unmentionable little things so 
 indispensable for getting on and succeeding in 
 colonial life, always more to unlearn than to learn, 
 and shuffling off all their old habits,. thoughts, and 
 associations, getting hold of that rich mine of 
 wealth in dearly purchased knowledge and expe- 
 rience. If the young gentlemen had ever suc- 
 ceeded in their perilous adventure, they would 
 have found to their sad discomfiture they had 
 been engaged in a wild goose chase. A new land 
 regulation coming out putting a stop to all the 
 traffic in land blocks and recognising no one's 
 right to the land unless occupied by sheep or 
 cattle. Here was an opportunity for my old 
 acquaintance James Macgregor, whom I met 
 shortly afterwards trudging along with sheep, 
 cattle, dray with wife and the children whom I 
 had baptized. James could shoe a horse, salt a
 
 ADVENTURES 235 
 
 bullock, erect a hut, ain^thinL,^ in fact for one to 
 get alon.L;. I had nearly forgotten all about James 
 when he came in my way a long time afterwards ; 
 he had sold the station for fifty thousand pounds. 
 If there is a tide in the affairs of men, which, when 
 taken at the flood leads on to fortune, there would 
 seem to be troubles connected with a fortune after 
 it has been acquired, and here all James's troubles 
 began, where others cease. He had no love for being 
 a grand gentleman, driving about in his carriage ; 
 he would much rather be going on in his old ' jog 
 trot ' way. John Macfarlane, a man exactly of the 
 same sort, told me all the money he brought with 
 him from Scotland was half a crown ; his station 
 was sold for upwards of a hundred thousand 
 pounds, l^'^g intestate, a dis[)ute commenced 
 about the successor to the property ; the dispute 
 has been going on for a number of years, and will 
 continue to go on until those interesting gentle- 
 men who take a lively interest in those d\'ing 
 intestate will discover some morning there is little 
 or nothing remaining of the hundred thousand 
 and upwards to dispute about. I never heard the 
 word fortune coming from these two men's lips, if 
 they ever thought of such a thing ; simply care- 
 fully attending to the work of to-day, leaving to- 
 morrow to take care of itself. If the}' had been 
 looking and striving for this making a fortune, 
 they would have been certain to have got into the 
 meshes of the lien nets of the merchants, and 
 have been striving all their lives long to make for- 
 tunes to others instead of fortunes to themselves.
 
 236 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 Since the establishment of the Native PoHce 
 and Black Trackers in Queensland, nothing would 
 now appear to be ever heard of as the depreda- 
 tions by the blacks. The young gentlemen knew 
 little of the land of droughts and floods to which 
 they had come, and instead of being killed by the 
 blacks, there was a far greater likelihood they had 
 fallen into the very difficulty in which I fell shortly 
 after leaving them, perished, as I nearly perished, 
 from want of water. I went into the dry bed of a 
 river in search of it day after day ; domicile after 
 domicile, out-station after out-station deserted, the 
 very silence of the grave reigned everywhere 
 around ; no living thing to be seen anywhere ; the 
 innumerable feathered songsters, that make the 
 groves of Australia so truly delightful with their 
 gambols and mirth and melody, had all departed ; 
 they could not live where there was no water. 
 One of the plagues of Egypt had set in, every 
 green thing covered with lice. I need not say 
 almost, I must have been completely delirious 
 from raging thirst. In taking out all the best 
 articles from my valise and laying them carefully 
 down at the root of a tree, a ray of hope suddenly 
 burst in, seeing crows flying in the direction I was 
 travelling, a sure indication this, old hands will be 
 heard to say, of water not being far off. At last, 
 when I came to water, it was something terrible 
 to drink it, and could scarcely avoid the feeling 
 it would have been better never to have seen it. 
 Sadly ruinous and destructive as those droughts 
 are, and a gold field I visited during a drought,
 
 ADVENTURES 237 
 
 the cabbages were half a crown apiece. There is 
 one great advantage of these droughts along with 
 bush fires little known and appreciated, sweeping 
 with the besom of destruction those vile pests, 
 snakes, which would otherwise make of the land of 
 Australia, so truly enjoyable, uninhabitable for 
 man or beast. With the proverbial little things 
 the most important things in life, it is worth 
 observing how the neglect of very little things 
 may be the occasion of indescribable suffering 
 in a long journey during oppressive heat in the 
 noonday sun. Faint, weary and worn, tired, jaded 
 and torn, passing a clump of Marmosa trees 
 beside a lagoon, I could not resist the temptation 
 of dismounting, giving the horse a drink, and rest- 
 ing under the delicious shade — the other trees, gum 
 trees, afford little or no shade, the arrow-shaped 
 leaves drooping to the earth like lady's earrings, 
 the rays of the sun pass through them to the earth 
 like water through a sieve — I unguardedly fell 
 asleep, and awoke with a pain in the ear truly 
 horrible ; an insect had got in and was burrowing 
 and scratching as if determined to make a tunnel 
 through my head, as Sir Edward Watkin is of 
 making a tunnel through the English Channel. 
 Fortunately I was on my way homewards, and 
 with the aid of a syringe^ apd hot: vf^'ter. .suc- 
 ceeded in dislodging the vile cfiing. Thrs "neglect 
 of the little thing was a hap d kerchief over my 
 head. Leading a- horse with^ a gieeri hide halter 
 (bullock's skin), on seeing a snake the horse i was 
 leading suddenly pulled me off the liorse I was
 
 238 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 riding, and there I lay on the ground with the 
 bullock-hide halter firmly twisted round my wrist 
 tied to the horse's head, rearing and plunging in 
 front of me, the shoes of the hind feet just touch- 
 ing my head, dead, dead, another instant my brains 
 are dashed out. The furious animal at length fully 
 exhausted in dragging me over stumps and stones, 
 the perspiration flowing from it as if it had just 
 come out of a boiling cauldron, stood. But here 
 was a terrible difficulty ; my right arm was dis- 
 located and I could not raise it to undo the green- 
 hide halter firmly twisted round the wrist ; by a 
 great effort I succeeded in reaching the horse and 
 slipping the halter off the head. The neglect of 
 the little thing here was simply to have had the 
 halter so loose in the hand as to be able to release 
 the hand at any time. Singular, though smashed 
 almost to a jelly, not the slightest feeling of pain. 
 It must be the same in the battle-field, those 
 receiving great wounds feeling no pain. The pain 
 next day, however, was something to think about, 
 crawling to a homestead, a few miles distant, 
 which I happily reached, and where, with medical 
 aid, soon got all to rights again. Stockmen are 
 heard to say they cannot stand the jostling in the 
 saddle longer than ten or twelve years, I had 
 beV;n" lor^gpt iTian Kvelve years in the saddle, and 
 gorte through as rduch jostling in the saddle as 
 any cf ;' th'em." ' ' '" '
 
 239 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 MATRI.MOXV 
 
 Young Gentleman — Ilobson's Choice — Chinamen — Hodge and his 
 Wife -Troubles ofShepherds— Mary Jane, Fanny, and Elizabeth 
 — Troubles of a Parson — Bridecake for the Funeral - Convict 
 Chaplain — Convict Damsels. 
 
 That rich luxuriant pasture, delighting so much 
 the hearts of pastors and their flocks in the Father- 
 land, marriage, has very little in common with the 
 scant herbage in the far interior of Australia. 
 There are so many minor influences at home 
 operating insensibly and all-powerfully, the e}'cs of 
 the world, friends, relations, that one is saved from 
 himself by these stout barriers, all everywhere 
 around him, that seldom is such a thing heard 
 of as a young gentleman taking that tremendous 
 leap, a foolish marriage. It is altogether different 
 in the interior of Australia, no hedges or barriers 
 of any kind, every one left to his own sweet will, 
 and in the matter of a wife nothing better than 
 Hobson's choice, this one or no one, there being 
 no others to choose from. I refused point blank 
 to marry a young gentleman to a young woman ; 
 the parties to the marriage, the parents of the 
 young woman especially, were most indignant.
 
 240 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 threatened legal proceedings against me, there 
 being no other clergyman nearer than a hundred 
 miles to celebrate marriage. Some time afterwards 
 the young gentleman thanked me for delivering 
 him out of a fearful scrape. ' Blessed is he who 
 considereth the poor,' not those who give to the 
 poor, so much mischief being done in indiscrimi- 
 nate charity in depriving the poor of their self- 
 respect and self-reliance ; and why should not this 
 ' considereth' be as applicable in clergymen marry- 
 ing couples, seeing that the}' were not unequally 
 yoked together, some reason and judgment in the 
 matter — no wild caprice — a paroxysm that has 
 come suddenly on and will just as certainly 
 suddenly go off.-' I never would have anything to 
 do in marrying Chinamen at the gold-fields, though 
 this was done by others. There would have been 
 some satisfaction here — no danger of shocking the 
 marriage party — should I inadvertently make use 
 of the words of a Highland clergyman in tying the 
 matrimonial cord — 'You two I declare one mutton 
 John Chinaman would have understood mutton far 
 readier than flesh. I felt I had a good case in 
 Hodge, marrying him to one in the same position 
 in life. Some time afterwards Hodge came and 
 offered fifty pounds if I would un marry him. 
 'What is the matter?' 'Slattern and wasp of a 
 thing ; neither hands nor head, nothing but tongue. 
 I am not going to be tied to a woman like that all 
 my life.* ' Look here, Hodge ; you have been 
 cursing Bridget with bad names. Why don't you 
 cherish her as you promised to do, by calling- her
 
 MATRIMONY 241 
 
 all the good names you can think of, anrl have 
 ever heard of? All these good names will be 
 showers of blessings on Bridget's head, and you 
 will find she will do everything to please you. 
 You have fallen out ; here Bridget is as much to 
 blame as you in breaking that solemn vow you 
 both took, that when one was angry the other 
 would not be angry.' 
 
 Riding along a shepherd came running, saying, 
 ' Ycr reverence, I want you to marry me to a woman 
 in a dray,' pointing in the direction antl naming 
 the station. ' How long haxe you known her ? ' 
 ' Since yesterday.' ' You are not going to marry 
 a woman you know nothing of.-'' 'She says she 
 came in an emigrant ship, and is looking for a 
 situation.' ' Don't you believe a word of it ; .some 
 runawa}-.' ' I'll chance it.' ' All very well you 
 chancing it, but how am I going to chance it ? 
 I have no means of knowing anything about her, 
 and might get into trouble in marrying another 
 man's wife to you.' 'If I don't get her, some- 
 one else will get her.' There was the force of 
 argument in this appeal, and not wishing to do an 
 unkind thing, I consented to marry him, taking 
 good care to protect myself in the legal formula 
 before witnes.ses. She was free and unmarried, and 
 no lawful impediment to the marriage. It would 
 have been wrong asking her many questions ; this 
 would only have been tempting her to tell lies, 
 and she was evidently nothing but a bundle of 
 them, and so very like a hus.sey that came bawling 
 after me, ' I have three husbands going about, 
 
 R
 
 242 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 robbing one after another and making fools of the 
 clergy.' 
 
 I had supreme satisfaction and deh'ght in 
 attending to the case of another shepherd who 
 asked to be married ; not the sh'ghtest scruple, 
 danger, or difficulty of any kind here in anyone 
 coming down upon me in great wrath, and calling 
 me to account. I asked the bride her age — 
 seventy-two last February ! What a mercy would 
 it be to those maidens who marry in haste and 
 repent at leisure, to take a leaf out of this bride's 
 book and wait until they reached the respectable 
 age of seventy-two, and be saved all repentance 
 and in smooth waters to the end of their life. I 
 asked the bridegroom what made him think of 
 marrying this old woman tottering on the brink of 
 the grave ? The answer was, ' She might live some 
 years, and as long as she li\ed would be as good as 
 thirty pounds a year to him as hut-keeper.' 
 
 The last persons whom a clergyman would wish 
 to offend are those lordly gentlemen, the squatters, 
 who bring the light and life of civilisation into the 
 interior in their troupe of domestic servants, 
 managers and others, who profess to be judges of 
 a good article, come down here swooping most un- 
 mercifully amongst the Mary Janes, Elizabeths, 
 and Fannys, entailing no end of misery to families, 
 and the poor parson in the outpouring of the 
 wrath of his best friend in being instrumental in 
 depriving him of his indispensable household 
 servants. The writer knows more of this than he 
 cares to acknowledge. ' There are as good fish in
 
 MATRIMONY 243 
 
 tlic sea as ever came out of it ; ' and why do not 
 those intcHigcnt men communicate at once with 
 their relatives at home and tell them plainly they 
 want a wife, and show they are well deserving of 
 one in their highly honourable conduct, in refraining 
 from inflicting misery on others to benefit them- 
 selves. There is surely something in that feeling 
 in many quarters against marrying in the month of 
 May. Here is the case of a marriage in the month 
 of May, and that would seem to establish the 
 correctness of the feeling, that Hymen holds high 
 court and festival at the antipodes as in the 
 Fatherland. In a long journey of forty miles to 
 the residence of the bride, and timed to arrive at 
 one o'clock in the afternoon, a gentleman, travelling 
 along with me, suddenly dropped dead from his 
 saddle as if he had been shot, and while in the 
 very act of speaking to me. I was detained until 
 one o'clock next morning to meet the marriage 
 party, in going to a station to arrange about the 
 removal of the dead body of my fellow-traveller. 
 The veil of the ncwl}'-marricd wife, coming in 
 contact with a lighted candle in signing the 
 marriage certificate, was all in flames, and I pulled 
 the veil off her head. That very night a messenger 
 came after me to return and bury her husband, 
 who had accidentally shot himself, and it was 
 certainly something very remarkable to observe 
 bridecake .ser\ing both for the marriage and for the 
 funeral. 
 
 One who held the appointment of chaplain 
 during the convict era, in a factory where the female
 
 244 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 convicts were entombed, told me of the great 
 stroke of business he had done in marrying his 
 protegees to up-country Lotharios, ahvays old 
 convicts. The convict damsels were all arranged 
 in a long line, as a string of beads or wild geese, 
 welcome to choose any one. There were never any 
 cases of denial — only too glad to get their liberty. 
 If they were all blanks and no prizes they all had 
 at least the high honour of being in her Majesty's 
 service. There is nothing that can come so near 
 to touch the hearts of the lovers of Australia as 
 those who bear its future destinies in the hollow of 
 their hands — the mothers. There is no denying 
 the bad blood that has been introduced and the 
 blotches that have broken out on the fair face — 
 bushrangers. I have met some of these strong 
 young lusty fellows, and the impression made on 
 my mind was, they were altogether incapable of 
 smiling — if they ever so much as smiled all their 
 life long. It was no love of plunder that actuated 
 these desperadoes, for some of them were well-to-do 
 in the world. It was nothing but sheer downright 
 devilry ; their countenances were as wild and fero- 
 cious as leopards or tigers, and seemingly as in- 
 capable of being reclaimed as are those of being 
 domesticated ; they would have served as ad- 
 mirable models for a sculptor, of those we read of 
 po.ssessed with devils and dwelling in the moun- 
 tains, and the conditions here were exactly similar. 
 A mother's love ! No, they never knew a mother's 
 love ; they were cradled in curses, their souls 
 steeped and dyed with curses, and they were
 
 MATRIMONY 245 
 
 takin;4 revenge upon society for neglect in earl)- 
 youth ; evils fall b\- their own mii^fht, anfl like 
 every other unclean thing in the wcjrld hastens to 
 dissolution. And of the many friends of man in 
 the \\(M-ld not the least is the grave, where the 
 wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary 
 be at rest.
 
 »46 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND ITS RESULTS- 
 
 Antipodean Go-aheadism— The Clergy and Crooked Legislation— 
 A Gaol versus a Woollen Factory— Deprivation of a Town's 
 Rights and Privileges— Losses of the People— Members of Par- 
 liament—Brains, but no Money— Mr. William Sykes and Bank 
 Failures— President of the Council and Chief Justice on the 
 Land Law— Early Colonisation— Squattager Cities of Refuge- 
 Emporiums of Wealth for the Poor -Radicalism — Scattering of 
 the People— Sufferings of the People. 
 
 The Bishop of Armidale and Gi'afton said he had 
 been twenty-three years in the Episcopate, and 
 had spent thousands and thousands of pounds of 
 his private means in maintaining his position, and 
 if he retired to-morrow he would not have more 
 than 150/. a year to Hve upon. 
 
 The calamities of this clergyman of the Church 
 of England require explanation. The writer was 
 the first minister of the Church of Scotland in the 
 diocese, and this when Armidale might be heard 
 spoken of as the camp, and in the great lines of com- 
 munication, as innship is seen to arise, the origin 
 usually being an inn, serving also as a store and 
 post office. If there are any applications for land 
 a staff of Government surveyors will be making 
 their appearance, laying out a town, and suburban
 
 DEMOCRACY AND ITS RESULTS 247 
 
 lots, sites for churches, schools ; all these t(n\n and 
 suburban lots arc put up for sale at i)ublic auction. 
 I was rccjuestcd by the inana<^crs of the church to 
 which I bchmgcd to attend one of these sales and 
 purchase some lots adjoining" the site for their 
 church. The following, who bid against me, may 
 well ser\e as a tableau I'ivant of antipodean 
 go-ahcadism. First, the auctioneer, himself a 
 Government official, with his Government salary 
 and seven thousand pounds he was said to have 
 earned in dabbling in lots put into his hands by 
 the Go\-ernment for sale ; in gold-digging parlance 
 he had made his pile and w as off. Second, a large 
 speculator in land, who died ins(jlvent. Third, a son 
 of the Emerald Isle. 1 had known him as clerk, 
 gold-digger, drover, commission agent, auctioneer. 
 He could not get rich fast enough at these occupa- 
 tions ; there was one chance remaining, a seat in 
 Parliament. With a glib tongue he had no difficult)- 
 in this, taking up the cry free selection before survc)-. 
 He was not long in Parliament. By voting straight 
 with the Government, he received a Government 
 situation of five hundred pounds a }-car. 
 
 Fourth, a German Jew. The purpo.se of their 
 bidding against me was vcr)' apparent in the 
 German Jew, coming at the clo.se of the sale, and 
 offering the lot he had purchased, and for which I 
 had also bid, if I would give him ten pounds for 
 his bargain. 1 declined five pounds, no ; two pounds, 
 no. Finding he could get nothing out of me he 
 commenced gesticulating, muttering some words in 
 German as if he had been bitten by a snake ; he
 
 24S AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 had indeed been bitten, but he had bitten himself 
 in losing instead of gaining, by the forfeit of the 
 deposit. What support could a clergyman expect to 
 secure from those confounded rascals, actually 
 robbing me of money carefully collected for church 
 purposes ? Society at the time was in such an 
 intricate state, there might be said to have been no 
 soQiety at all, every one like Dugald Dalgety 
 fighting for his own hand. The members of the New 
 South Wales Parliament have withdrawn all the 
 monc}' formerly given to the clergy, for their own 
 benefit. Voluntaryism ; there is certainly nothing 
 wrong in voluntaryism in the colonies. Putting 
 new wine into new bottles ; there is no disturbing 
 element as in the old country. Putting new wine into 
 old bottles, is the cry of disestablishment, breaking 
 the bottles in all the ties of Christian neighbourhood 
 and brotherhood. What the clergy in New South 
 Wales have to complain of is the badness of the 
 bottles ; all cracked, cracked legislators and crack- 
 brained members of Parliament. Here, about forty 
 miles beyond Armidale, Glen Innes, they have 
 erected a gaol at a cost of twelve thousand pounds, 
 and after standing there for about twelve years, 
 there has never been known to be a prisoner in it. 
 There surely never was such crack-brainedness ; if 
 they had erected a woollen factory instead, how 
 much more beneficial would this have been to the 
 people, and what an unspeakable mercy to the 
 young women in the neighbourhood, at their wits' 
 end in not knowing what to do with themselves. 
 Houses in the interior may be seen covered with
 
 DEMOCRACY AND US Ri:.SULT.S 249 
 
 bullocks' hides instead of sheets (jf bark. What an 
 immense industry might be carried on here in tan- 
 neries, tlierc being nothing from which the people 
 suffer so much as the boots and shoes, made b}' 
 prisons in America, for which the highest prices 
 are charged and will not stand a day's wear. It is 
 doubtful if many or an}- of the legislators know of 
 those wonderful places, cedar scrubs, about eighty 
 miles from the high table land, containing the 
 choicest timber for cabinet making, sassafras or satin- 
 wood predominating, as if an extraordinary provi- 
 dence had transported a part of Borneo to the ver)- 
 place where the timber \\as needed, all the other 
 timber, that is, gum trees, being useless for cabinet 
 making, and what an immense industry might be 
 engaged here in cabinet making. The people could 
 all live and thrive ; engaged in those industries, the 
 droughts and floods not affecting them the slightest ; 
 but there is no possibility of the people living and 
 thriving on patches of land in the squatters' runs, 
 here, there, and everywhere, and the people in the 
 interior, the main producers of the wealth of the 
 colony, had a far better preferential claim to 
 Go\-ernment support and patronage than rich 
 gentlemen's sons in Sydney, and had the hundreds 
 of thousands of pounds lavished upon a univcrsit}' 
 in Sydney been laid out in encouraging \\-oollen 
 factories in the interior, this certainly would not 
 have occurred. Multitudes of famishing people 
 rushing from the intericjr and crowding the streets 
 of Sj'dney, with untold miseries of deserted homes 
 and families.
 
 250 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS' 
 
 The tempter is always more to blame than the 
 tempted, and the Government of New South 
 Wales cannot release itself of its responsibilities to 
 those people in their losses and miseries, having 
 been led to their ruin b}^ the common device, a 
 cheap bargain in deferred payment. 
 
 There is no condition of agricultural success in 
 the interior of Australia as in the interior of New 
 Zealand. All this might have been anticipated, 
 and was anticipated by the late President of the 
 Council, Sir John Hay, when in opposition to the 
 radical party ; he had spent the best part of a long 
 life in the interior, was acquainted with the land, 
 people, and everything. It was also anticipated by 
 the late Chief Justice, Sir James Martin, born and 
 bred in the colony, with his legal mind, studying 
 consequences and the remote bearings of every- 
 thing. It is interesting to observe how correctly he 
 anticipated what has taken place in addressing a 
 crowd during a political ferment. Free selection 
 before survey, ye howling idiots, ye will see 
 thousands of starving people from the interior 
 coming down upon you ; the number from last 
 accounts was fourteen thousand. The land in the 
 interior suitable for the settlement of a population 
 is small indeed ; all this available land is to be found 
 in the high dividing ranges, in alluvial flats occurring 
 at intervals, the soil not washed away as at other 
 places and carried by floods and lodged in large 
 heaps in the interior, serving no purpose there for 
 cultivation on account of floods, droughts, and hot
 
 DEMOCRACY AND ITS RESULTS 251 
 
 winds. An alluvial flat of five thousand acres, close 
 to the town of Armidale, was sur\e}'cd and divided 
 into allotments for the benefit of the town. To the 
 consternation of the residents all this their town 
 land was advertised to be sold in one da}'. The 
 answer of the Government to their petition against 
 it was, we want the money. Tlic whole of the fi\ e 
 thousand acres was purchased by the squatter at 
 the upset price of i/. an acre. 
 
 How easily could the five thousand pounds 
 have been obtained by laying hold of a cattle run 
 in the district, about ten miles in length, the same 
 in breadth, serving no purpose but the demorali- 
 sation of a family ; the stockman having turned 
 ' free solicitor ' and earning a livelihood by stealing 
 his former master's cattle, putting the whole up for 
 sale in ten lots, the five thousand pounds got at 
 once without interfering with the town land. But 
 no more of that nasty abominable huckstering in 
 deferred payment, nothing but a cheat, and all the 
 elements of moral and political degradation might 
 be found in the one thing, deferred payment, and 
 the tricks of trade in this arc amply abundant and 
 sufficient in the world without the Go\crnment 
 resorting to them. 
 
 The next day the whole of the co\\s of the 
 people of Armidale town were drixcn from what had 
 formerl)- been their town land into the pound, and 
 no more heart-sickening sight was e\er witnessed, 
 than that of a poor woman going about asking for 
 money to help her to get her cows out of the
 
 252 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 pound, the sole means of support for herself and 
 family. The member of Parliament for the district 
 was standing by all the time this was going on ; he 
 might not have known so much, but if he had an}- 
 regard for his constituents, he must have known 
 this much, that there was a Governor in the colony 
 who could at once put a stop to this deprivation 
 of the town rights and privileges, and one asks 
 what is the use of members of Parliament ? I have 
 never seen any use of them except making a 
 provision for themselves and friends in Govern- 
 ment situations. I was introduced to a newly 
 elected member of Parliament in the interior, with 
 the request at the same time for money to help 
 him in his parliamentary career. He might have 
 been seen humping the swag, tramping it all the 
 way to Sydney, and not long afterwards becoming 
 a minister of the Crown ; unfortunately, he did not 
 long survive to reap the fruits of the golden harvest 
 that falls into the lap of those who have brains but 
 no money. An old country like England can stand 
 a great deal of radicalism and be none the worse, 
 perhaps the better, there being so much inter- 
 pellant power, but in a new colony radicalism with 
 manhood suffrage at the end of the tether is a 
 terrible infliction. Constitutions are said not to be 
 made but to grow : but there is no such thing as 
 growing in the radical creed, and there is no such 
 thing as building up ; it must be always pulling 
 down, and the holdings of vast numbers of people, 
 the fruits of national labour and industry, lent out 
 in the purchase of land at one or two pounds an
 
 DEMOCRACY AND ITS RESULTS 253 
 
 acre* must be brought down to the dead level of 
 five shilh'ngs an acre, Government everything, the 
 people nothing. Money got out of every one thing, 
 fairly or foull)-, to keep this great machine, Govern- 
 ment, in motion for the special benefit, honour, and 
 delight of the Sydneyites, Paris being France and 
 Sydney New South Wales. In Mr. William Sykes 
 exploiting in the interior, the right man has been 
 taken b)- the hand for bringing in money to the 
 Government treasury, the purpose here being to 
 goad the squatters to purchase their runs. Mr. 
 Sykes has been credited with breaking into banks ; 
 it is quite a new experience making the banks 
 close their doors ; he has done this most effectually, 
 and it was impossible for the squatters to hold pos- 
 session of their runs without heavy advances from 
 the banks in securing possession of favourite water 
 frontages, where Mr. Sykes would be certain to 
 enrich himself. 
 
 ' A little wisdom required to govern ' is a very 
 old saying, and nothing could have been easier in 
 the Government of New South Wales than simply 
 to have followed the lines of Government laid down 
 from the very foundation of the colony, and which 
 had contributed to all its wealth and prosperit)-, 
 and if an archangel from heaven had laid down 
 those lines, nothing could have appeared so wise 
 and beneficent. Such a happy blending and uniting 
 of rich and poor, the squattages being factories for 
 taking in poor people and sending them out rich. 
 Great Britain might be seen herewith her long out- 
 stretched arm of benevolence and money providing
 
 254 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 for her miserable outcast children, and the squat- 
 tages were ' cities of refuge ' to many ; if one 
 required to liide himself from the manslayer, he 
 could always hide himself here, no one knew any- 
 thing about him and no one cared to know anything 
 about him, inquiry into character before employ- 
 ment being altogether unknown, shelter and pro- 
 vision for the most woebegone, and one who is held 
 capable of nothing else in the world is always held 
 capable of this, shepherding in Australia, and the 
 lazier the man always the better shepherd (this is 
 not the case in New Zealand), and that terrible 
 obstacle to finding employment, an encumbrance- 
 in a wife and family, is better recommendation for 
 finding employment. Mike and Jim might bolt, 
 getting disgusted with the lonely life, but there was 
 no risk of this taking place in Pat and Biddy and 
 the young Pats ; Pat was a fixture, and Biddy if 
 she was a thrifty woman could go on changing and 
 live like a little queen, all the people knew what 
 they were doing, and what they had to effect. If one 
 wished to make a home for himself, there was this 
 only course open to him, settle near a town, where 
 the land was surveyed and ready for occupation, 
 the people all brought here at once within the pale 
 of moral and religious influences, and boys too long 
 shepherding losing the faculty of speech, recovering 
 from the affliction on being brought within the 
 healing influences of society, all these early lines 
 of colonisation have been done away with for no 
 reason whatever. Settle anywhere ; nothing possibly 
 could be .so disastrous and insane, and if a set of
 
 DEMOCRACY AND ITS KKSl'I/rS 255 
 
 savages or gypsies had been fraining a land law, 
 there is nothing more certain, their land law would 
 have exactly corresponded with the land law of 
 New South Wales. No use for towns, cixilisation, 
 Christianisation, or anything of that sort, squat down 
 anywhere ; and there is not one hundredth part of 
 the care and attention given to the people there 
 is given to sheep and cattle. Exposed to all the 
 perils of the scattering of the people, one of the just 
 curses of the Almighty, an easy prey to every design- 
 ing vagabond, anci in the masterful art of extor- 
 tion there will be none found so expert as Go- 
 vernment employes. Here is a case of one, a licensed 
 Government surveyor, pouncing upon a free selector 
 in his lonely part, not finding all the money he re- 
 quired, laying hold of a horse that was standing near, 
 to the great grief of the daughter Mary, crying out 
 the man has gone off with Nelly, a valuable brood 
 mare ; the man was off indeed, rejoicing greatly in 
 the facilities afforded him for the exercise of his 
 predatory talents ; stolen waters are sweet, and there 
 can be little doubt of many gloating and glorying 
 over their ill-gotten gain plunder, and who have 
 no more of the law of humanity in their souls than 
 a carrion crow. Here was a scamp of a medical 
 man, who to my certain knowledge arrived in 
 the interior as poor as a ' church mouse,' telling 
 me with great glee that he had got fift)- pounds for 
 one visit ; if he could not get monc}- he was certain 
 always to get horses, and I bought some from him 
 myself ; he told me his income was as good as fifteen 
 hundred pounds a year. If the scamp had been
 
 2,6 AUSTRALIA AS IT IS 
 
 living with an equal population in the United King- 
 dom he would not have received fifteen hundred 
 pence. 
 
 The following arc a few extracts from lectures 
 delivered in Sydney by the author as a protest on 
 the part of the clergy against the action of the 
 Government in the ' Scattering of the People,' one 
 of the great curses of the Almighty : 
 
 Gathering and heaping up money is work that 
 can be done any day by a coalheaver ; there 
 are a great many things in the world far more 
 valuable than money, and which money cannot 
 purchase ; there is love, truth, justice, honour, 
 humanity. Go anywhere sounds very well ; large, 
 liberal. It is nothing but sound and fury, there is 
 not a grain of reason or common sense in it. The 
 Government has the means of knowing, and the 
 people have not the means of knowing, where they 
 may settle with the best likelihood of success, and 
 I hold it is driving the people to ruin and de- 
 struction to permit them to settle where they choose. 
 There arc those who have great faith in mankind, 
 and that a man when left to himself will always 
 act best for his own interest. There never was a 
 greater delusion ; habits are easily formed, bush 
 habits like every other kind of habits. Society is 
 a sacred contract, sealed and ratified in heaven, and 
 established for the good of the individual. This 
 sacred vessel the legislature of New South Wales 
 has taken and broken and dashed in pieces to the 
 ground. Society contains within itself all the 
 elements of its own preservation, wickedness is kept
 
 DEMOCRACY AND ITS RESULTS 257 
 
 down as a common enemy, virtue is cherished as a 
 friend, and it is in such circumstances. Vox popiili 
 vox Dei. He was a very Solon in legislation, thai 
 honourable member who stood up in his high 
 place in Parliament and called in the free solicitor 
 to select near each other, and they would fight the 
 squatters', Move of our neighbour?' In the new- 
 departure of the Government, deferred payment in 
 the purchase of the land, political life in the 
 colony is well-nigh extinguished. Who would be so 
 rude and wicked as to say anything against this 
 liberal and benevolent Government that gives the 
 people credit in the purchase of the land ? The 
 Government can well afford to be liberal with the 
 land, but it has no right and business to be liberal 
 with that which does not belong to it — the hearts 
 and consciences of the people. The land is to be held 
 sacred ; in selling the land the Government was 
 bound to give up full possession of the rights of 
 the land, the man treated as a man and not a helot 
 and slave, tied and bound to this Government, and 
 have no heart and voice to cry out against the 
 wrongs and oppression of Government. The British 
 lion in Great Britain is a noble animal, stands by 
 and sees that there is not a hair of your head 
 touched ; in Australia he is a ferocious brute, takes 
 you into his mouth and swallows you. 
 
 KIMS 
 
 Spottisivootie &r' Co. Printers, XfU'-streel Square, Lmtdfti. 
 
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