Australia as it is ... Third edition

Preface

The observations in the concluding chapter are to be understood as applying to the interior; population 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 ofthe earth and righteousness looking down from heaven ' — in deferred payment on the purchase of the land, there will be nothing seen springing up but dragon's teeth VI 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 PAGE 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 Uncertainties of Colonial Legislation ..... I

Chapter II The

bush First 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— Occupation ofthe Land— Geological Wonders— Alligators— New Discoveries . . . rAGE

Chapter III Pioneering

Early Settlement — Variety of Country— Cheap Land and Money-making— Aboriginal 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 mav be Acquired Cheaply— Aborigines of Australia — Accounts of New Zealand — Aborigines of New Zealand — Facts Relating to them ...... 4^

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 Slations— Schoolmasters and Physicians — Founding of Townships — Camp Followers — Squattage Homes — Land and Land Legislation — Absenteeism and Resident Squatters— Details of Squatting . . . 102

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 Trecious Stones— An English Gold-Mining Company Exploding Unnecessarily— Gold Escort — Lucky Diggers— Old CONTENTS IX I'AGE 180 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 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 . . .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 Prescription 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

Chapter VIII

droughts and floods Coast and Dividing Ranges — A Drought and its Terrible Effects — Singular Origin of a Fire — Hot Winds — Agriculture in the Interior — Travelling on the Road — Sandy and Swelling Blight — Bullock Drivers— Carriers— Stock- X PAGE 193 207 239 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 .

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

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 Shepherd — 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 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 — Troubles of a Parson — Bridecake for the Funeral — Convict Chaplain — Convict Damsels CONTENTS XI PAGE !46

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 Parliament — 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. .....

Chapter I Preliminary Observations

Chinese Expedients for Communicating Information to Chinese Settlers — Reasons for Emigrants Refraining from Letter-w riling -Precarious Condition of New Settlers— Cautious Gold-diggers — Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand — Mistakes of Emi grants in hot 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 entered a shepherd's hut, which formed one of the numerous out-stations of a large grazing establishment, and found a Chinaman, who acted as hut-keeper, busily engaged in reading a Chinese volume. Having signified a desire to be informed as to the nature of the contents of it, and of a number of other Chinese books which lay beside him, he replied in English,' All this country this Chinaman write — other Chinamen write — all write China,' pointing at the same time in every direction around him, and finally in the direction of China.

In traversing bush tracks, and the main B 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 of 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 place 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 prosperity alternating with periods of depression, which have unfortunately been of 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 inform his comrades at home of his good fortune, with the object of inducing them to follow his foot steps ; but he deeply regretted 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 previously 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 ties are broken ; and there are those who forget, those, too, always very numerous, who wait ' to-morrow and to-morrow,' to write more favourable intelligence. To-morrow, with its favourable intelligence, does not come, and they do not write. One young man, who had emigrated very much against the will of his parents, said to me that he had not written to them for seven years.

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 salary 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. B The spirit of commercial enterprise is so much abroad ; the 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 newspapers — has been discovered, the more experienced and better-informed diggers employ and pay a party of reliable persons to visit it and furnish a report, a fact of some significance, proving the necessity 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, Perth.— It has a large unexplored interior, and newly discovered 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. IVo ducts : wheat, copper, and wool. VICTORIA— Capital, 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, silver, lead. Queensland— Capital, Brisbane.— The latest formed colony. Warm climate. Products : wool, gold. Squatting in the ascendant, with a vast un occupied territory, forming the newly projected colony, Northern Australia. Tasmania (Van Diemcn'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 settlements 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 acquaintance with the Australian colonies would have convinced some Europeans whom I met in the southern settlements of New Zealand, where I had gone in 1850 on a health-seeking excursion, that they had committed serious mistakes in settling there. Such places as Southland and Otago are not at all adapted for persons who suffer from pulmonary complaints, in consequence of the frequent rains and cold south-westerly winds, and those 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 required 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 settlements, always bidding high for public savour, 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 great when they find employment at 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 ruinous. There arc 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 are better than one ; ' and the 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 very little to be said about the old and established settlements, the population of towns, and those in the neighbourhood who arc engaged in agriculture, in vine and in tobacco growing. In those places channels for labour and industry have been opened up and very clearly defined, indicating to emigrants the safest course to follow. In newly-formed settle ments, however, there arc often difficulties in the way of ascertaining the proper season for the sowing of grain, and the kind of cultivation suitable 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 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 the colony. The public 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 up 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 who 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 required 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 with 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 he 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 territory, and if he desires the advantages of Thomson, n he has only to do as Thomson or his predecessor did : go and ' take up country,' or, what one Smith cannot do, ten Smiths can accomplish, and purchase a station, of which there are many for sale. The larger number of mankind are born to live on trust, and to think little of the laws by which they are to be governed, save how to obey them. They leave legislation to the study and occupation of those who have leisure for the task, to those whose presumably superior wisdom and intelligence they would much rather confide in than their own ; and it is very annoying to many poor struggling emigrants, looking out for the means of subsistence for themselves 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 politics. 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 which he had paid i/., 2/., and 4/. per acre would soon not be worth more than five shillings 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.

Chapter II

the bush First Sight of Australia — Physical Outlines and Configuration -- Eastern and Western Falls of the Water — Climate — Queensland -Vegetation — Birds, Wild and Domestic — Fish — Wild Animals — Reptiles — Fruits, Indigenous and European— English Vegetables — Atmospheric Peculiarities and Phenomena - Diversity of Country and Climate— Occupation of the Land — Geological Wonders— Alligators— New Discoveries. ' Bush ' is the name given to the natural sorest 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 vastness 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 with trees, and there are no green hills or parts of country entirely clear of timber to relieve the eye from the oppressive, dusky, and sombre shade of the Australian forest. The similitude of Australia, in its great physical outlines and configuration, to the dropping from a cow, though very homely, is not a bad illustration. There is greater or less unevenness on the surface beginning 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 thousand 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 western falls of the water 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 navigable 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 on the one in New South Wales, there will be none on the one in Queensland, 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 are 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 arc 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 other diseases are almost unheard of. Botany Bay was a very appropriate name for the part of Australia which was first discovered, for that region is thickly covered with large flowering shrubs of a varied and beautiful character ; but the whole continent might well admit of the designation ' Botany Land.' There seems to be an endless variety of vegetation, differing in different 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 variety 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.