AUSTRALIA, the only continent entirely in the
southern hemisphere. It lies between io° 39' and 39° 112' S., and
between 113° 5' and 153° 16' E. Its greatest length is 2400 m. from
east to west, and the greatest breadth 1971 m. from north to south.
The area is, approximately, 2,946,691 sq. m., with a coast line
measuring about 8850 m. This is equal to 1 m. to each 333 sq. m. of
land, the smallest proportion of coast shown by any of the
continents.
Physical Geography
Physiography. - The salient features
of the Australian continent are its compact outline, the absence of
navigable rivers communicating with the interior, the absence of
active volcanoes or
snow-capped
mountains, its isolation from other lands, and its antiquity. Some
of the most profound changes that have taken place on this globe
occurred in Mesozoic times, and a great portion of Australia was
already dry land when vast tracts of
Europe and
Asia
were submerged; in this sense, therefore, Australia has been
rightly referred to as one of the oldest existing land surfaces. It
has been described as at once the largest island and the smallest
continent on the globe. The general contours exemplify the law of
geographers in regard to continents, viz. as to their having a high
border around a depressed interior, and the highest mountains on
the side of the greatest ocean. On the N. Australia is bounded by
the
Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea
and Torres Strait; on the E. by the
Pacific Ocean; on the S. by
Bass Strait and the
Southern
Ocean; and on the W. by the
Indian Ocean. It stands up from the ocean
depths in three fairly well-marked terraces. The basal plain of
these terraces is the
bed of the
ocean, which on the Pacific side has an average depth of 15,000 ft.
From this profound foundation rise Australia,
New Guinea and
Melanesia, in varying slopes. The first ledge
rising from the ocean floor has depth averaging 8000 ft. below
sea-level. The outer edge of this ledge is roughly parallel to the
coast of
Western Australia, and more than 150
m. from the land. Round the Australian
Bight it continues parallel to the coast, until
south of Spencer Gulf (the basal ledge still averaging 8000 ft. in
depth) it sweeps southwards to lat. 55°, and forms a submarine
promontory 1000 m. long. The edge of the abysmal area comes close
to the eastern coasts of
Tasmania and
New South Wales, approaching to within
60 m. of Cape Howe. The
terrace closest to the land, known as the
continental
shelf, has an average depth of 600 ft., and connects Australia,
New
Guinea, and Tasmania in
one unbroken sweep. Compared with other continents, the Australian
continental shelf is extremely narrow, and there are points on the
eastern coast where the land plunges down to oceanic depths with an
abruptness rarely paralleled. Off the
Queensland coast the shelf broadens, its
outer edge being lined by the seaward face of the
Great Barrier
Reef. From Torres Strait to Dampier Land the shelf spreads out,
and connects Australia with New Guinea and the
Malay
Archipelago. An
elongation of the shelf to the south joins
Tasmania with the mainland. The vertical relief of the land above
the ocean is a very important factor in determining the climate as
well as the distribution of the
fauna and
flora of a continent.
The land mass of Australia rises to a mean height much less than
that of any other continent; and the chief mountain systems are
parallel to, and not far from, the coast-line. Thus, taking the
continent as a whole, it may be described as a plateau, fringed by
a lowlying well-watered coast, with a depressed, and for the most
part arid, interior. A great plain, covering quite 500,000 sq. m.,
occupies a position a little to the east of a meridional line
bisecting the continent, and south of the 22nd degree, but portions
of it stretch upwards to the low-lying country south of the
Gulf of
Carpentaria. The
contour
of the continent in
latitude 30° 5' is as follows: - a short
strip of coastal plain; then a
sharp incline rising to a mountain range 4000 ft. above sea-level,
at a distance of 40 m. from the coast. From this a gently-sloping
plateau extends to almost due north of Spencer Gulf, at which point
its height has fallen almost to sealevel. Then there is a gentle
rise to the low steppes, 500 to woo ft. above sea-level. A further
gentle rise in the high steppes leads to the mountains of the West
Australian coast, and another strip of low-lying coastal land to
the sea.
With a circumference of 8000 m. Australia presents a contour
wonderfully devoid of inlets from the sea except on its northern
shores, where the coast-line is largely indented. The Gulf of
Carpentaria, situated in the north, is enclosed on the east by the
projection of Cape
York, and on the west by Arnheim
Land, and forms the principal bay on the whole coast, measuring
about 6° of long. by 6° of lat. Farther to the west, Van Diemen's
Gulf, though much smaller, forms a better-protected bay, having
Melville Island between it and the ocean; while beyond this,
Queen's Channel and Cambridge Gulf form inlets about 14° 50' S. On
the north-west of the continent the coast-line is much broken, the
chief indentations being Admiralty Gulf, Collier Bay and King
Sound, on the shores of Tasman
Land. Western Australia, again, is not favoured with many inlets,
Exmouth Gulf and Shark's Bay
being the only bays of any size. The same remark may be made of the
rest of the sea-board; for, with the exception of Spencer Gulf, the
Gulf of
St Vincent and
Port Phillip on
the south, and
Moreton Bay, Hervey Bay and Broad
Sound on the east, the coast-line is singularly uniform. There are,
however, numerous spacious harbours, especially on the eastern
coast, which are referred to in the detailed articles dealing with
the different states. The Great Barrier
Reef forms the prominent feature off the
north-east coast of Australia; its extent from north to south is
1200 m., and it is therefore the greatest of all
coral reefs. The
channel between the reef and the coast is in places 70 m. wide and
400 ft. deep. There are a few clear openings in the outer rampart
which the reef presents to the ocean. These are opposite to the
large estuaries of the Queensland rivers, and might be thought to
have been caused by fresh water from the land. The breaks are,
however, some 30 to 90 m. away from land and more probably were
caused by subsidence; the old river-channels known to exist below
sea-level, as well as the former land connexion with New Guinea,
seem to point to the conditions assumed in Darwin's well-known
subsidence theory, and any facts that appear to be inconsistent
with the theory of a steady and prolonged subsidence are
explainable by the assumption of a slight upheaval.
With the exception of Tasmania there are no important islands
belonging geographically to Australia, for New Guinea, Timor and
other islands of the East Indian
archipelago, though not removed any great
distance from the continent, do not belong to its system. On the
east coast there are a few small and unimportant islands. In Bass
Strait are Flinders Island, about Soo sq. m. in area, Clarke
Island, and a few other small islands.
Kangaroo Island, at the entrance of St
Vincent Gulf, is one of
the largest islands on the Australian coast, measuring 80 m. from
east to west with an average width of 20 m. Numerous small islands
lie off the western coast, but none has any commercial importance.
On the north coast are Melville and
Bathurst Islands; the former, which is 75 m.
long and 38 m. broad, is fertile and well watered. These islands
are opposite Port Darwin, and to the westward of the large inlet
known as Van Diemen's Gulf. In the Gulf of Carpentaria are numerous
islands, the largest bearing the Dutch name of Groote Eylandt.
Along the full length of the eastern coast extends a succession
of mountain chains. The vast
cordillera of the Great Dividing Range
originates in the south-eastern corner of the con tinent, and runs
parallel with and close to the eastern shore, through the states of
Victoria and New South
Wales, right up to the far-distant
York Peninsula in Queensland. In Victoria the greatest elevation is
reached in the peaks of Mount Bogong (6508 ft.) and Mount
Feathertop (6303 ft.), both of which lie north of the Dividing
Range; in the main range Mount Hotham (6100 ft.) and Mount Cobberas
(6025 ft.) are the highest summits. In New South Wales, but close
to the Victorian border, are found the loftiest peaks of Australia,
Mount
Kosciusco and
Mount Townsend, rising to heights of 7328 and 7260 ft.
respectively. The range is here called the Muniong, but farther
north it receives the name of Monaro Range; the latter has a much
reduced
altitude, its
average being only about 2000 ft. As the tableland runs northward
it decreases both in height and width, until it narrows to a few
miles only, with an elevation of scarcely 1500 ft.; under the name
of the Blue Mountains the plateau widens again and increases in
altitude, the chief peaks being Mount Clarence(4000 ft.), Mount
Victoria (3525 ft.), and Mount
Hay
(3270 ft.). The Dividing Range decreases north of the Blue
Mountains, until as a mere ridge it divides the waters of the
coastal rivers from those flowing to the
Darling. The mass widens out once more in the
Liverpool Range, where
the highest peak, Mount Oxley, reaches 4500 ft., and farther north,
in the
New England
Range,
Ben Lomond
reaches an elevation of 5000 ft. Near the Queensland border, Mount
Lindsay, in the Macpherson
Range, rises to a height of 5500 ft. In the latitude of
Brisbane the chain swerves
inland; no other peak north of this reaches higher than Mount
Bartle Frere in the
Bellenden Ker Range (5438 ft.). The Southern Ocean system of the
Victorian Dividing Range hardly attains to the dignity of high
mountains. An eastern system in
South Australia touches at a few points
a height of 3000 ft.; and the
Stirling Range, belonging to the south-western
system of South Australia, reaches to 2340 ft. There are no
mountains behind the Great Australian Bight. On the west the
Darling Range faces the Indian Ocean, and extends from Point
D'Entrecasteaux to the Murchison river. North of the Murchison,
Mount Augustus and Mount
Bruce,
with their connecting highlands, cut off the coastal drainage from
the interior; but no point on the north-west coast reaches a
greater altitude than 4000 ft. Several minor ranges, the
topography of which is
little known, extend from Cambridge Gulf, behind a very much broken
coast-line, to Limmen Bight on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Nothing is
more remarkable than the contrast between the aspect of the coastal
ranges on the north-east and on the south-east of the continent.
The higher Australian peaks in the south-east look just what they
are, the worn and denuded stumps of mountains, standing for untold
ages above the sea. Their shoulders are lifted high above the
tree-line. Their summits stand out
gaunt and lonely in an unbroken solitude. Having left the tree-line
far behind him, nothing is visible to the traveller for miles
around but barren peaks and torn crags in indescribable confusion.
A verdure of herbage clothes the valleys that have been scooped
from the summits downwards. But there are no perpetual snow-fields,
no glaciers creep down these valleys, and no alpine hamlets ever
appear to break the monotony. The mountains of the north-east, on
the contrary, are clothed to their summits with a rich and varied
flora. Naked crags, when they do appear, lift themselves from a sea
of green, and a tropical vegetation, quite Malaysian in character,
covers everything.
The absence of active volcanoes in Australia is a state of
things, in a geological sense, quite new to the continent. Some of
the volcanoes of the western districts of Victoria have been in
eruption probably subsequent to the
advent of the black-fellow. In some instances
the cones are quite intact, and the beds of
ash and scoriae are as yet almost unaffected by
denuding agencies. Late in the
Tertiary period vast sheets of
lava poured from many points of the Great Dividing
Range of eastern Australia. But it is notable that all recent
volcanic action was confined to a wide
belt parallel to the coast. No evidences of recent
lava flows can be found in the interior over the great alluvial
plain, the Lower, or the Higher Steppes. Nor has the continent, as
a whole, in recent times been subjected to any violent earth
tremors; though in 1873, to the north of Lake Amadeus, in central
Australia, Ernest Giles records the occurrence of
earthquake shocks violent
enough to dislodge considerable rock masses.
Australia possesses one mountain which, though not a
volcano, is a " burning
mountain." This is Mount Wingen, situated in a
spur of the Liverpool Range and close to the town
of
Scone. Its fires are not
volcanic, but result from the
combustion of
coal some distance underground, giving off much
smoke and
steam; geologists estimate that the burning has
been going on for at least 800 years.
The coastal belt of Australia is everywhere well watered, with
the exception of the country around the Great Australian Bight and
Spencer Gulf. Flowing into the Pacific Ocean on the east coast
there are some fine rivers, but the majority have short and rapid
courses. In Queensland a succession of rivers falls into the
Pacific from Cape York to the southern boundary of the state. The
Burdekin is the finest of these, draining an area of 53,5 00 sq.
m., and emptying into Upstart Bay; it receives numerous tributaries
in its course, and carries a large body of fresh water even in the
driest seasons. The
Fitzroy
river is the second in point of size; it drains an area of 55,600
sq. m., and receives several tributary streams during its course to
Keppel Bay. The Brisbane river, falling into Moreton Bay, is
important chiefly from the fact that the city of Brisbane is
situated on its
banks. In New
South Wales there are several important rivers, the largest of
which is the Hunter, draining 11,000 sq. m., and having a course of
200 m. Taking them from north to south, the principal rivers are
the
Richmond, Clarence,
Macleay,
Hastings,
Manning, Hunter, Hawkesbury and Shoalhaven. The Snowy river has the
greater part of its course in New South Wales, but its mouth and
the last 120 m. are in Victoria. The other rivers worth mentioning
are the Yarra, entering the sea at Port Phillip, Hopkins and
Glenelg. The
Murray, the greatest
river of Australia, debouches into Lake Alexandrina, and thence
into the sea at Encounter Bay in South Australia. There are no
other rivers of importance in South Australia, but the Torrens and
the
Gawler may be mentioned.
Westward of South Australia, on the shores of the Australian Bight,
there is a stretch of country 300 m. in length unpierced by any
streams, large or small, but west of the bight, towards Cape
Leeuwin, some small rivers enter the sea. The southwest coast is
watered by a few streams, but none of any size; amongst these is
the
Swan, upon which
Perth, the capital of Western
Australia, is built. Between the Swan and North-West Cape the
principal rivers are the Greenough, Murchison and Gascoyne; on the
north-west coast, the Ashburton, Fortescue and De Grey; and in the
Kimberley district, the
Fitzroy, Panton, Prince
Regent
and the Ord. In the Northern Territory are several fine rivers. The
Victoria river is navigable for large vessels for a distance of
about 43 m. from the sea, and small vessels may ascend for another
80 m. The Fitzmaurice, discharging into the
estuary of the Victoria, is also a large
stream. The Daly, which in its upper course is called the
Katherine, is navigable for a considerable distance, and small
vessels are able to ascend over 100 m. The Adelaide, discharging
into Adam Bay, has been navigated by large vessels for about 38 m.,
and small vessels ascend still farther. The South
Alligator river, flowing
into Van Diemen's Gulf, is also a fine stream, navigable for over
30 m. by large vessels; the East Alligator river, falling into the
same gulf, has been navigated for 40 m. Besides those mentioned,
there are a number of smaller rivers discharging on the north
coast, and on the west shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria the Roper
river discharges itself into Limmen Bight. The Roper is a
magnificent stream, navigable for about 75 or 80 m. by vessels of
the largest
tonnage, and
light
draught vessels can
ascend 20 m. farther. Along the portion of the south shore of the
Gulf of Carpentaria which belongs to Queensland and the east coast,
many large rivers discharge their waters, amongst them the
Norman, Flinders, Leichhardt,
Albert and
Gregory on the southern shore, and the
Batavia, Archer, Coleman,
Mitchell, Staaten and Gilbert
on the eastern shore. The rivers flowing into the Gulf of
Carpentaria, as well as those in the Northern Territory, drain
country which is subject to regular monsoonal rains, and have the
general characteristics of sub-tropical rivers.
The network of streams forming the tributaries of the Darling
and Murray system give an idea of a well-watered country. The
so-called rivers have a strong flow only after heavy rains, and
some of them do not ever reach the main drainage line.
Flood waters disappear often within
a distance of a few miles, being absorbed by porous soil, stretches
of
sand, and sometimes by the
underlying bed-rocks. In many cases the rivers as they approach the
main stream break up into numerous branches, or spread their waters
over vast flats. This is especially the case with the tributaries
of the Darling on its left
bank, where in seasons of great rains these
rivers overspread their banks and flood the flat country for miles
around and thus reach the main stream. Lieutenant John Oxley went
down the Lachlan (1817) during one of these periods of flood, and
the great plains appeared to him to be the fringe of a vast inland
sea. As a matter of fact, they are an alluvial
deposit spread out by the same flood waters.
The great rivers of Australia, draining inland, carve out valleys,
dissolve
limestone, and
spread out their deposit over the plains when the waters become too
sluggish to
bear their
burden farther. From a geological
standpoint, the Great Australian Plain and the fertile valley of
the
Nile have had a similar
origin. Taking the Lachlan as one type of Australian river, we find
it takes its rise amongst the precipitous and almost unexplored
valleys of the Great Dividing Range. With the help of its
tributaries it acts as a denuding
agent for 14,000 sq. m. of country, and carries
its burden of sediment westwards. A point is reached about zoo m.
from the Dividing Range, where the river ceases to act as a
denuding agent, and the area of deposition begins, at a level of
250 ft. above the sea, but before the waters can reach the ocean
they have still to travel about 1000 m.
The Darling is reckoned amongst the longest rivers in the world,
for it is navigable, part of the year, from Walgett to its
confluence with the Murray, 1758 m., and then to the sea, a further
distance of 587 m. - making in all 2345 m. of navigable water. But
this gives no correct idea of the true character of the Darling,
for it can hardly be said to drain its own
watershed. From the sources of its various
tributaries to the town of
Bourke, the river may be described as draining a
watershed. But from Bourke to the sea, 550 m. in a direct line, the
river gives rather than receives water from the country it flows
through.
The annual rainfall and the area of the catchment afford no
measure whatever as to the size of a river in the interior of
Australia. The discharge of the Darling river at Bourke does not
amount to more than 10% of the rainfall over the country which it
drains. It was this remarkable fact which first led to the idea
that, as the rainfall could not be accounted for either by
evaporation or by the river discharge, much of the 90% unaccounted
for must sink into the ground, and in part be absorbed by some
underlying bed-rock.
All Australian rivers, except the Murray and the Murrumbidgee,
depend entirely and directly on the rainfall. They are flooded of
ter
rain, and in seasons of
drought many of them, especially the tributaries of the Darling,
become chains of ponds. Springs which would equalize the discharge
of rivers by continuing to pour water into their beds after the
rainy season has passed seem entirely absent in the interior. Nor
are there any snowfields to feed rivers, as in the other
continents. More remarkable still, over large tracts of country the
water seems disposed to flow away from, rather than to, the
river-beds. As the low-lying plains are altogether an alluvial
deposit, the coarser sediments accumulate in the regions where the
river first overflows its banks to spread out over the plains. The
country nearest the river receiving the heaviest deposit becomes in
this way the highest ground, and so continues until a " break-away
" occurs, when a new river-bed is formed, and the same process of
deposition and
accumulation is repeated. As the general
level of the country is raised by successive alluvial deposits, the
more ancient river-beds become buried, but being still connected
with the newer rivers at some point or other, they continue to
absorb water. This underground network of old river-beds underlying
the great alluvial plains must be filled to repletion before flood
waters will flow over the surface. It is not surprising, therefore,
that comparatively little of the rainfall over the vast extent of
the great central plain ever reaches the sea by way of the river
systems; indeed these systems as usually shown on the maps leave a
false impression as to the actual condition of things.
The great alluvial plain is one of Australia's most notable
inland features; its extent is upwards of 500,000 sq. m., lying
east of 135° W. and extending right across the continent from
Steppes. the Gulf of Carpentaria to the
Murray river. The
interior of the continent west of 135° and north of the Musgrave
ranges is usually termed by geographers the Australian Steppes. It
is entirely different in all essential features from the great
alluvial plains. Its prevailing aspect is characterized by flat and
terraced hills, capped by
desert sandstone, with stone-covered flats
stretching over long distances. The country round Lake Eyre, where
some of the land is actually below sea-level, comes under this
heading. The higher steppes, as far as they are known, consist of
Ordovician and
Cambrian rocks,
with an average elevation of 1500 to 3000 ft. above sea-level. Over
this country water-courses are shown on maps. These run in wet
seasons, but in every instance for a short distance only, and
sooner or later they are lost in sand-hills, where their waters
disappear and a line of stunted
gum-trees (
Eucalyptus rostrata) is all that is
present to indicate that there may be even a soakage to
mark the abandoned course. The
steppes cover a surface of 400,000 sq. m., and from this vast
expanse not a drop of the scanty rainfall reaches the sea; there is
no leading drainage system and there are no rivers. Another notable
feature of the interior is the so-called lake area, a district
stretching to the north of Spencer Gulf. These lakes are expanses
of brackish waters that spread or
Lakes. contract as the
season is one of drought or rain. In seasons of drought they are
hardly more than swamps and mud flats, which for a time may become
a grassy plain, or desolate coast encrusted with
salt. The country around is the dreariest
imaginable, the surface is a dead level, there is no heavy
timber and practically no
settlement. Lake Torrens, the largest of these depressions,
sometimes forms a
sheet of water
100 m. in length. To the north again stretches Lake Eyre, and to
the west Lake Gairdner. Some of these lake-beds are at or slightly
below sea-level, so that a very slight depression of the land to
the south of them would connect much of the interior with the
Southern Ocean. (T. A. C.)
Geology. - The states of Australia are
divided by natural boundaries, which separate geographical areas
having different characters, owing, mainly, to their different
geological structures. Hence the general stratigraphical geology
can be most conveniently summarized for each state separately,
dealing here with the geological history of Australia as a whole.
Australia is essentially the fragment of a great plateau land of
Archean rocks. It consists in the main of an Archean block or "
coign,"which still occupies nearly the whole of the western half of
the continent, outcrops in north-eastern Queensland, forms the
foundation of southern New South Wales and eastern Victoria, and is
exposed in western Victoria, in Tasmania, and in the western flank
of the Southern
Alps of
New Zealand. These
areas of Archean rocks were doubtless once continuous. But they
have been separated by the foundering of the
Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea, which divided the
continent of Australia from the islands of the Australasian
festoon; and the foundering of
the band across Australia, from the Gulf of Carpentaria, through
western Queensland and western New South Wales, to the lower basin
of the Murray, has separated the Archean areas of eastern and
western Australia. The breaking up of the old Archean foundation
block began in Cambrian and Ordovician times. A narrow Cambrian sea
must have extended across central Australia from the Kimberley
Goldfield in the
north-west, through Tempe
Downs
and the
Macdonnell
chain in central Australia, to the South Australian highlands,
central Victoria at Mansfield, and northern Tasmania. Cambrian
rocks occur in each of these districts, and they are best developed
in the South Australian high= lands, where they include a long belt
of contemporary glacial deposits. Marine Ordovician rocks were
deposited along the same general course. They are best developed in
the Macdonnell chain in
Palaeozoic U Mesozoic
Dolerite '
&c. '
® central Australia and in Victoria, where the fullest
sequence is known; while they also extended north-eastward from
Victoria into New South Wales, where, as yet, no Cambrian rocks
have been found. The
Silurian system was marked by the retreat of
the sea from central Australia; but the sea still covered a band
across Victoria, from the coast to the Murray basin, passing to the
east of
Melbourne. This
Silurian sea was less extensive than the Ordovician in Victoria;
but it appears to have been wider in New South Wales and in
Queensland. The best Silurian sequence is in New South Wales.
Silurian rocks are well developed in western Tasmania, and the
Silurian sea must have washed the south-western corner of the
continent, if the rocks of the Stirling Range be rightly identified
as of this age.
The
Devonian
system includes a complex series of deposits, which are of most
interest in eastern Australia. This period was marked by intense
earth movements, which affected the whole of the east Australian
highlands. The Lower Devonian beds are in the main terrestrial, or
coarse littoral deposits, and volcanic rocks. The Middle Devonian
was marked by the same great transgression as in Europe and
America; it produced inland
seas, extending into Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, in
which were deposited limestones with a rich coral fauna. The Upper
Devonian was a period of marine retreat; the crustal disturbances
of the Lower Devonian were renewed and great
quartz-pebble beaches were formed on the rising
shore lines, producing the West Coast Range conglomerates of
Tasmania, and the similar rocks to the south-east of Mansfield in
Victoria. Intrusions of granitic
massifs in the Devonian
period formed the primitive mountain axis of Victoria, which
extends east and west across the state and forms the
nucleus of the Victorian
highlands. Similar granitic intrusions occurred in New South Wales
and Queensland, and built up a mountain chain, which ran north and
south across the continent; its worn-down stumps now form the east
Australian highlands.
The
Carboniferous period began with a
marine transgression, enabling limestones to form in Tasmania and
New South Wales; and at the same time the sea first got in along
the western edge of the western plateau, depositing the
Carboniferous rocks of the Gascoyne basin and the coastal plain of
north-western Australia. The Upper Carboniferous period was in the
main terrestrial, and during it were laid down the coal-seams of
New South Wales; they are best developed in the basin of the Hunter
river, and they extend southward, covered by Mesozoic deposits,
beyond
Sydney. The Coal
Measures become narrower in the south, until, owing to the eastward
projection of the highlands, the Lower Palaeozoic rocks reach the
coast. The coal-seams must have been formed in wellwatered,
lowland forests, at the foot of
a high mountain range, built up by the Devonian earth movements.
The mountains both in Victoria and New South Wales were
snow-capped, and glaciers flowed down their flanks and laid down
Carboniferous glacial deposits, which are still preserved in basins
that flank
the
mountain ranges, such as the famous conglomerates of Bacchus
Marsh, Heathcote and the Loddon
valley in Victoria, and cf
Branxton and other localities in New South
Wales. The age of the glacial deposits is later than the
Glossopteris flora and occurs early in the time of the
Gangamopteris flora. Kitson's work in Tasmania shows that
there also the glacial beds may be correlated with the lower or
Greta Coal Measures of New South Wales.
The
Permian deposits are
best developed in New South Wales and Tasmania, where their
characters show the continuation of the Carboniferous conditions.
The Mesozoic begins with a
Triassic land period in the mainland of
Australia; while the islands of the Australasian festoon contain
the Triassic marine limestones, which fringe the whole of the
Pacific. The Triassic beds are best known in New South Wales, where
round Sydney they include a series of sandstones and shales. They
also occur in northern Tasmania.
The
Jurassic system is
represented by two types. In Victoria, Tasmania, northern New South
Wales and Queensland, there are Jurassic terrestrial deposits,
containing the coal seams of Victoria, of the Clarence basin of
north-eastern New South Wales, and of the
Ipswich series in Queensland; the same beds
range far inland on the western slopes of the east Australian
highlands in New South Wales and Queensland and they occur, with
coal-seams, at Leigh's
Creek, at
the northern foot of the South Australian highlands. They are also
preserved in basins on the western plateau, as shown by brown coal
deposits passed through in the Lake Phillipson bore. The second and
marine type of the Jurassics occurs in Western Australia, on the
coastal plain skirting the western foot of the western plateau.
The
Cretaceous period was initiated by
the subsidence of a large area to the south of the Gulf of
Carpentaria, whereby a Lower Cretaceous sea spread southward,
across western Queensland, western New South Wales and the
north-eastern districts of South Australia. In this sea were laid
down the shales of the Rolling Downs formation. The sea does not
appear to have extended completely across Australia, breaking it
into halves, for a projection from the Archean plateau of Western
Australia extended as far east as the South Australian highlands,
and thence probably continued eastward, till it joined the
Victorian highlands. The Cretaceous sea gradually receded and the
plains of the Rolling Downs formation formed on its floor were
covered by the sub-aerial and lacustrine deposits of the Desert
Sandstone.
The Kainozoic period opened with fresh earth movements, the most
striking evidence of which are the volcanic outbreaks
all
round the Australian coasts. These movements in the south-east
formed the Great Valley of Victoria, which traverses nearly the
whole of the state between the Victorian highlands to the north,
and the Jurassic sandstones of the Otway Ranges and the hills of
south Gippsland. In this valley were laid down, either in
Eocene or
Oligocene
times, a great series of lake beds and thick accumulations of brown
coal. Similar deposits, of approximately the same age, occur in
Tasmania and New
Zealand;
and at about the same time there began the Kainozoic volcanic
period of
Australasia. The first eruptions piled up
huge domes of lavas rich in soda, including the geburite-dacites
and sOlvsbergites of Mount Macedon in Victoria, and the kenyte and
tephrite domes of
Dunedin,
in New Zealand. These rocks were followed by the outpouring of the
extensive older basalts in the Great Valley of Victoria and on the
highlands of eastern Victoria, and also in New South Wales and
Queensland. Then followed a marine transgression along most of the
southern coast of Australia. The sea encroached far on the land
from the Great Australian Bight and there formed the limestones of
the Nullarbor Plains. The sea extended up the Murray basin into the
western plains of New South Wales. Farther east the sea was
interrupted by the still existing land-connexion between Tasmania
and Victoria; but beyond it, the marine deposits are found again,
fringing the coasts of eastern Gippsland and Croajingolong. These
marine deposits are not found anywhere along the eastern coast of
Australia; but they occur, and reach about the same height above
sea-level, in New Guinea, and are widely developed in New Zealand.
No doubt eastern Australia then extended far out into the Tasman
Sea. The great monoclinal
fold
which formed the eastern face of the east Australian highlands,
west of Sydney, is of later age. After this marine period was
brought to a close the sea retreated. Tasmania and Victoria were
separated by the foundering of Bass Strait, and at the same time
the formation of the rift valley of Spencer Gulf, and Lake Torrens,
isolated the South Australian highlands from the Eyre Peninsula and
the Westralian plateau. Earth movements are still taking place both
along Bass Strait and the Great Valley of South Australia, and
apparently along the whole length of tht southern coast of
Australia.
The Flowing Wells of Central
Australia
The clays of the Rolling Downs formation overlie a series of
sands and drifts, saturated with water under high pressure, which
discharges at the surface as a flowing well, when a borehole
pierces the impermeable cover. The first of these wells was opened
at Kallara in the west of New South Wales in 1880. In 1882, Dr W.
L.
Jack concluded that western
Queensland might be a deep artesian basin. The Blackhall bore, put
down at his advice from 1885 to 1888, reached a water-bearing layer
at the depth of 1645 ft. and discharged 291,000 gallons a day. It
was the first of the deep
artesian wells of the continent. As the
plains on the Rolling Downs formation are mostly waterless, the
discovery of this deep reservoir of water has been of great aid in
the development of central Australia. In Queensland to the 30th of
June 1904, 973 wells had been sunk, of which 596 were flowing
wells, and the total flow was 62,635,722 cub. ft. a day. The
deepest well is that at Whitewood, 5046 ft. deep. In New South
Wales by the 30th of June 1903, the government had put down 101
bores producing 66 flowing wells and 22 sub-artesian wells, with a
total discharge of 54,000,000 gallons a day; and there were also
144 successful private wells. In South Australia there are 38 deep
bores, from 20 of which there is a flow of 6,250,000 gallons a
day.
The wells were first called artesian in the belief that the
ascent of the water in them was due to the hydrostatic pressure of
water at a higher level in the Queensland hills. The well-water was
supposed to have percolated underground, through the Blythesdale
Braystone, which outcrops in patches on the eastern edge of the
Rolling Downs formation. But the Blythesdale Braystone is a small
local formation, unable to supply all the wells that have been
sunk; and many of the wells derive their water from the Jurassic
shales and mudstones. The difference in level between the outcrop
of the assumed eastern intake and of the wells is often so small,
in comparison with their distance apart, that the
friction would completely sop
up the whole of the available hydrostatic head. Many of the
well-waters contain gases; thus the town of
Roma is lighted by
natural gas which escapes from its well.
The chemical characters of the well-waters, the irregular
distribution of the water-pressure, the distribution of the
underground thermal gradients, and the occurrence in some of the
wells of a tidal rise and fall of a varying period, are facts which
are not explained on the simple hydrostatic theory. J. W. Gregory
has maintained (
Dead Heart
of Australia, 1906, pp. 273-341) that the ascent of water in
these wells is due to the tension of the included gases and the
pressure of overlying sheets of rocks, and that some of the water
is of plutonic origin.' (J. W. G.)
Climate. - The
Australian continent, extending over 28° of latitude, might be
expected to show a considerable diversity of climate. In reality,
however, it experiences fewer climatic variations than the other
great continents, owing to its distance (28°) from the
Antarctic circle and (11°)
from the
equator. There is,
besides, a powerful determining cause in the uniform character and
undivided extent of its dry interior. The plains and steppes
already described lie either within or close to the tropics. They
present to the fierce play of the sun almost a level surface, so
that during the day that surface becomes intensely heated and at
night gives off its heat by radiation. Ordinarily the alternate
expansion and contraction of the
atmosphere which takes place under such
circumstances would draw in a supply of moisture from the ocean,
but the heated interior, covering some 900,000 sq. m., is so
immense, that the moist
air from the
ocean does not come in sufficient supply, nor are there mountain
chains to intercept the clouds which from time to time are formed;
so that two-fifths of Australia, comprising a region stretching
from the Australian Bight to 20° S. and from 117° to 142° E.,
receives less than an average of io in. of rain throughout the
year, and a considerable portion of this region has less than 5 in.
No part of Victoria and very little of Queensland and New South
Wales lie within this area. The rest of the continent may be
considered as well watered. The north-west coast, particularly the
portions north of Cambridge Gulf and the shores of the Gulf of
Carpentaria, are favoured with an annual
visitation of the
monsoon from December to March, penetrating as
far as Soo m. into the continent, and sweeping sometimes across
western and southern Queensland to the northern interior of New
South Wales. It is this tropical downpour that fills and floods the
rivers flowing into Lake Eyre and those falling into the Darling on
its right bank. The whole of the east coast of the continent is
well watered. From Cape York almost to the tropic of Capricorn the
rainfall exceeds 50 in. and ranges to over 70 in. At Brisbane the
fall is 50 in., and portions of the New South Wales coast receive a
like quantity, but speaking generally the fall is from 30 in. to 40
in. The southern shores of the continent receive much less rain.
From Cape Howe to Melbourne the fall may be taken at from 30 in. to
40 in., Melbourne itself having an average of 25.6 in. West of Port
Phillip the fall is less, averaging 20 in. to 30 in., diminishing
greatly away from the coast. Along the shores of Encounter Bay and
St Vincent and Spencer Gulfs, the precipitation ranges from 10 to
20 in., the yearly rainfall at Adelaide is a little less than 21
in., while the head of Spencer Gulf is within the 5 to 1 0 in.
district. The rest of the southern coast west as far as 124° E.,
with the exception of the southern projection of Eyre Peninsula,
which receives from 10 to 20 in., belongs to the 1 The literature
of the geology of Australia is enumerated, to 1884, in the
bibliography by Etheridge and Jack. A general summary of the
stratigraphical geology was given by R. Tate,
Rep. Austral.
Assoc. Adv. Sci. vol. v. (1893), pp. 1-69. References to the
chief sources of information regarding the states is given under
each of them. A geological
map of
the whole continent, on the scale of 50 m. to the
inch, was compiled by A. Everett, and issued in
1887 in six sheets, by the Geological Survey of Victoria. II 31
district with from 5 to io in. annual rainfall. The south-western
angle of the continent, bounded by a line drawn diagonally from
Jurien river to Cape Riche, has an average of from 30 to 40 in.
annual rainfall, diminishing to about 20 to 30 in. in the country
along the
diagonal line.
The remainder of the south 4 and west coast from 124° E. to
York'Sound in the Kimberley district for a distance of some 150 m.
inland has a fall ranging from 10 to 20 in. The 10 to 20 in.
rainfall band circles across the continent through the middle of
the Northern Territory, embraces the entire centre and south-west
of Queensland, with the exception of the extreme south-western
angle of the state, and includes the whole of the interior of New
South Wales to a line about 200 m. from the coast, as well as the
western and northern portions of Victoria and South Australia south
of the Murray.
|
Rainfall.
Under 10 inches
|
|
Rainfall Areas
in sq. m.
. 1,219,600
|
|
10 to 20
|
|
|
843,100
|
|
20 to 3 0
|
|
|
399,900
|
|
30 to 40
|
|
|
225,700
|
|
40 to 50
|
|
|
140,300
|
|
50 to 60
|
|
|
47,900
|
|
60 to 70
|
„
|
|
56,100
|
|
Over 7
|
|
|
14,100
|
|
|
Total
|
. 2,946,700
|
|
temperatures during the month referred to:
Temperature
Fahr.
|
Area
in sq. m.
|
|
45 0 -5 0 °
|
18,800
|
|
50 0 -55°
|
506,300
|
|
55 0 -60°
|
681,800
|
|
60 0 -65°
|
834,400
|
|
65°-70°
|
515,000
|
|
70 0 -75°
|
275,900
|
|
75°- 80 °
|
24,500
|
|
Temperature
|
|
Area
|
|
Fahr.
|
|
in sq. m.
|
|
60°-65°
|
|
67,800
|
|
65°-70°
|
|
63,700
|
|
70°-75°
|
|
352,300
|
|
75°-80°
|
|
439,200
|
|
80°-85°
|
|
733,600
|
|
85°-90°
|
|
570,600
|
|
9 0 °-95
|
|
584,100
|
|
95° and over .
|
|
135,400
|
The area of Australia subject to a rainfall of from io to 20 in.
is 843,000 sq. m. On the seaward side of this area in the north and
east is the 20 to 30 in. annual rainfall area, and still nearer the
sea are the exceptionally well-watered districts. The following
table shows the area of the rainfall zones in square miles: - The
tropic of Capricorn divides Australia into two parts. Of these the
northern or intertropical portion contains 1,145,000 sq. m.,
comprising half of Queensland, the Northern Territory, and the
northwestern divisions of Western Australia. The whole of New South
Wales, Victoria and South Australia proper, half of Queensland, and
more than half of Western Australia, comprising 1,801,700 sq. m.,
are without the tropics. In a region so extensive very great
varieties of climate are naturally to be expected, but it may be
stated as a general law that the climate of Australia is milder
than that of corresponding lands in
the northern
hemisphere. During July, which is the coldest month in southern
latitudes, one-half of Australia has a mean temperature ranging
from 45° to 61°, and the other half from 62° to 80°. The following
are the areas subject to the various average The temperature in
December ranges from 60° to above 95° Fahr., half of Australia
having a mean temperature below 84°. Dividing the land into zones
of average summer temperature, the following are the areas which
would fall to each: - Judging from the figures just given, it must
be conceded that a considerable area of the continent is not
adapted for colonization by European races. The region with a mean
summer temperature in excess of 95° Fahr. is the interior of the
Northern Territory north of the 10th parallel; and the whole of the
country, excepting the seaboard, lying between the meridians of
120° and 140°, and north of the 25th parallel, has a mean
temperature in excess of 90° Fahr. The area of Australia is so
large that the characteristics of its climate will not be
understood without reference to the individual states. About
one-half of the
colony of
Queensland lies in the tropics, the remaining area lying between
the tropic and 29° S. The temperature, however, has a daily range
less than that of other countries under the same isothermal lines.
This circumstance is due to the sea-breezes, which blow with great
regularity, and
temper what
would otherwise be an excessive heat. The hot winds which prevail
during the summer in some of the other colonies are unknown in
Queensland. Of course, in a territory of such large extent there
are many varieties of climate, and the heat is greater along the
coast than on the elevated lands of the interior. In the northern
parts of the colony the high temperature is very trying to persons
of European descent. The mean temperature at Brisbane, during
December, January and February, is about 76°, while during the
months of June, July and August it averages about 60°. Brisbane,
however, is situated near the extreme southern end of the colony,
and its average temperature is considerably less than that of many
of the towns farther north. Thus the winter in
Rockhampton averages
nearly 65°, while the summer heat rises almost to 85°; and at
Townsville and
Normanton the average
temperature is still higher. The average rainfall along the coast
is high, especially in the north, where it ranges from 60 to 70 in.
per annum, and along a strip of country south from Cape Melville to
Rockingham Bay the average rainfall exceeds 70 in. At Brisbane the
rainfall is about 50 in., taking an average of forty years. A large
area of the interior is watered to the extent of 20 to 30 in. per
annum, but in the west and south, more remote than from 250 to 300
m., there is a rainfall of less than 20 in.
Climatically, New South Wales is divided into three marked
divisions. The coastal region has an average summer temperature
ranging from 78° in the north to 67° in the south, with a winter
temperature of from 59° to 52°. Taking the district generally, the
difference between the mean
Wales. summer and mean winter
temperatures may be set down as averaging not more than 20°, a
range smaller than is found in most other parts of the world.
Sydney, situated in latitude 33°51'S., has a mean temperature of
62.9° Fahr., which corresponds with that of
Barcelona in
Spain and of
Toulon in
France, the former of these being in latitude
41° 22' N. and the latter in 43°7' N. At Sydney the mean summer
temperature is 70.8° Fahr., and that of winter 53.9°. The range is
thus 16.9° Fahr. At
Naples,
where the mean temperature for the year is about the same as at
Sydney, the summer temperature reaches a mean of 74.4°, and the
mean of winter is 47.6°, with a range 26.8°. The mean temperature
of Sydney for a long series of years was spring 62°, summer 71°,
autumn 64°, winter 54°.
Passing from the coast to the tableland, a distinct climatic
region is entered.
Cooma, with a
mean summer temperature of 65.4°, and a mean winter temperature of
41.4°, may be taken as illustrative of the climate of the southern
tableland, and
Armidale of
the northern. The yearly average temperature of the latter is
scarcely 65.5°, while the summer only reaches 67.7°, and the winter
falls. to 44.4 The climatic conditions of the western districts of
the state are entirely different from those of the other two
regions. The summer is hot, but on the whole the climate is very
healthy. The town of Bourke, lying on the upper Darling, may be
taken as an example of many of the interior districts, and
illustrates peculiarly well the defects as well as the excellencies
of the climate of the whole region. Bourke has exactly the same
latitude as
Cairo, yet its mean
summer temperature is 1.3° less, and its mean annual temperature 4°
less than that of the Egyptian city.
New Orleans, also on the same parallel is,
4° hotter in summer. As regards winter temperature Bourke leaves
little to be desired. The mean winter
reading of the thermometer is 54.7, and
accompanied as this is by clear skies and an absence of snow, the
season is both pleasant and invigorating. The rainfall of New South
Wales ranges from an annual average of 64 in. at various points on
the northern coast, and at Kiandra in the Monaro district, to 9 in.
at Milparinka in the transDarling district. The coastal districts
average about 42 in. per annum, the tablelands 32 in., and the
western interior has an average as low as 20 in. At Sydney, the
average rainfall, since observations were commenced, has been 50
in.
The climate of Victoria does not differ greatly from that of New
South Wales. The heat, however, is generally less intense in
summer, and the cold greater in winter. Melbourne, which stands in
latitude 37° 50' S., has a mean temperature of 57'3°, and therefore
corresponds with
Washington in
the United States,
Madrid,
Lisbon and
Messina. The difference between summer and
winter is, however, less at Melbourne than at any of the places
mentioned, the result of a long series of observations being spring
57°, summer 65.3°, autumn 58.7°, and winter 49-2'. The highest
recorded temperature in the shade at Melbourne is 110.7°, and the
lowest 27°, but it is rare for the summer heat to exceed 85°, or
for the winter temperature in the daytime to fall below 40°.
Ballarat, the second city of
Victoria, lies above 100 m. west from Melbourne at a height of 1400
ft. above sea-level. It has a minimum temperature of 29°, and a
maximum of 104.5°, the average yearly mean being 54.1°. The
rainfall of Melbourne averages 25.58 in., the mean number of rainy
days being 131.
South Australia proper extends over 26 degrees of latitude, and
naturally presents considerable variations of climate. The coldest
months are June, July and August, during which the temperature is
very agreeable, averaging 53.6°, 51
7°, and 54° in those
months respectively. On the plains slight frosts occur
occasionally, and
ice is sometimes
seen on the.
highlands. In summer the sun has great power, and the
temperature reaches 100° in the shade, with hot winds blowing from
the interior. The weather on the whole is remarkably dry. At
Adelaide there are on an average 120 rainy days per annum, with a
mean rainfall of 20.88 in. The country is naturally very healthful,
as evidence of which may be mentioned that no great epidemic has
ever visited the state.
Western Australia has practically only two seasons, the winter
or wet season, which commences in April and ends in October, and
Western the summer or dry season, which comprises the
remainder of the year. During the wet season frequent and heavy
Australia rains fall, and thunderstorms, with sharp
showers, occur in the summer, especially on the north-west coast,
which is sometimes visited by hurricanes of great violence. In the
southern and early-settled parts of the state the mean temperature
is about 64°, but in the more northern portions the heat is
excessive, though the dryness of the atmosphere makes it preferable
to moist tropical climates. The average rainfall at Perth is 33 in.
per annum.
The climate of the Northern Territory is extremely hot, except
on the elevated tablelands; altogether, the temperature of this
part of the continent is very similar to that of northern
Queensland, and the climate is not favourable to Europeans. The
rainfall in the extreme north, especially in January and February,
is very heavy, and the annual average along the coast is about 63
in. The whole of the peninsula north of 15° S. has a rainfall
considerably exceeding 40 in. This region is backed by a belt of
about zoo m. wide, in which the rainfall is from 30 to 40 in., from
which inwards the rainfall gradually declines until between Central
Mount
Stuart
and Macdonnell ranges it falls to between 5 and to in.
Fauna and Flora
The origin of the fauna and flora of Australia has attracted
considerable attention. Much accumulated evidence, biological and
geological, has pointed to a southern extension of
India, an eastern extension of
South Africa, and a
western extension of Australia into the Indian Ocean. The
comparative richness of proteaceous plants in Western Australia and
South
Africa first suggested a
common source for these primitive types. Dr H. O.
Forbes drew attention to a certain community
amongst birds and other vertebrates, invertebrates, and amongst
plants, on all the lands stretching towards the south
pole. A theory was therefore
propounded that these known types were all derived from a continent
which has been named Antarctica. The supposed continent extended
across the south pole, practically joining Australia and
South America. Just
as we have evidence of a former mild climate in the
arctic regions, so a similar mild
climate has been postulated for Antarctica. Modern naturalists
consider that many of the problems of Australia's remarkable fauna
and flora can be best explained by the following
hypothesis: - The region
now covered by the antarctic ice-cap was in early Tertiary times
favoured by a mild climate; here lay an antarctic continent or
archipelago. From an area corresponding to what is now South
America there entered a fauna and flora, which, after undergoing
modification, passed by way of Tasmania to Australia. These
immigrants then developed, with some exceptions, into the present
Australian flora and fauna. This theory has advanced from the
position of a disparaged
heresy to acceptance by leading thinkers. The
discovery as fossil, in South America, of primitive or ancestral
forms of marsupials has given it much support. One of these,
Prothylacinus, is regarded as the forerunner of the
marsupial
wolf of Tasmania. An
interesting
link between divergent
marsupial families, still living in
Ecuador, the
Coenolestes, is another
discovery of recent years. On the Australian side the fact that
Tasmania is richest in marsupial types indicates the
gate by which they entered. It is not
to be supposed that this antarctic element, to which Professor Tate
has applied the name
Euronotian, entered a desert barren
of all life. Previous to its arrival Australia doubtless possessed
considerable vegetation and a scanty fauna, chiefly invertebrate.
At a comparatively recent date Australia received its third and
newest constituent. The islands of Torres Strait have been shown to
be the denuded remnant of a former extension of Cape York peninsula
in North Queensland. Previous to the existence of the strait, and
across its site, there poured into Australia a wealth of Papuan
forms. Along the Pacific slope of the Queensland Cordillera these
found in soil and climate a congenial home. Among the plants the
wild
banana,
pepper, orange and
mangosteen,
rhododendron, epiphytic
orchids and the
palm; among mammals the bats and rats; among birds
the
cassowary and
rifle birds; and among
reptiles the
crocodile and tree
snakes, characterize this
element. The numerous facts, geological, geographical and
biological, which when linked together lend great support to this
theory, have been well worked out in Australia by Mr Charles Hedley
of the Australian Museum, Sydney.
The
zoology of Australia
and Tasmania presents a very conspicuous point of difference from
that of other regions of the globe, in the prevalence of
non-placental
mammalia.
The vast majority of the mammalia are provided with an organ in the
uterus, by which, before the birth of their young, a vascular
connexion is maintained between the embryo and the parent animal.
There are two orders, the
Marsupialia and the
Monotremata, which do not possess this
organ; both these are found in Australia, to which region indeed
they are not absolutely confined.
The geographical limits of the marsupials are very interesting.
The opossums of America are marsupials, though not showing
anomalies as great as kangaroos and bandicoots (in their feet), and
Myrmecobius (in the number of teeth). Except the opossums,
no single living marsupial is known outside the Australian
zoological region. The forms of life characteristic of India and
the
Malay
peninsula come down to the island of
Bali. Bali is separated from
Lombok by a strait not more than 15 m. wide. Yet
this narrow belt of water is the boundary line between the
Australasian and the Indian regions. The zoological boundary
passing through the Bali Strait is called " Wallace's line," after
the eminent naturalist who was its discoverer. He showed that not
only as regards beasts, but also as regards birds, these regions
are thus sharply limited. Australia, he pointed out, has no
woodpeckers and no pheasants, which are widely-spread Indian birds.
Instead of these it has moundmaking turkeys,
honey-suckers, cockatoos and
brush-tongued lories, all of which are found
nowhere else in the world.
The marsupials constitute two-thirds of all the Australian
species of mammals. It is the well-known peculiarity of this order
that the female has a pouch or fold of skin upon her
abdomen, in which she can place
the young for suckling within reach of her teats. The
opossum of America is the only
species out of Australasia which is thus provided. Australia is
inhabited by at least if o different species of marsupials, which
is about two-thirds of the known species; these have been arranged
in five tribes, according to the food they eat, viz., the
grass-eaters (kangaroos), the
root-eaters (wombats), the
insect-eaters (bandicoots), the flesh-eaters
(native cats and rats), and the
fruit-eaters (phalangers).
The kangaroo (
Macro pus) lives in droves in the open
grassy plains. Several smaller forms of the same general appearance
are known as wallabies, and are common everywhere. The kangaroo and
most of its congeners show an extraordinary disproportion of the
hind limbs to the fore part of the
body. The rock wallabies again have short tarsi of the hind legs,
with a long pliable tail for climbing, like that of the
tree kangaroo of
New Guinea, or that of the
jerboa. Of the larger kangaroos, which attain a
weight of 200 lb and more, eight species are named, only one of
which is found in Western Australia. Fossil bones of extinct
kangaroo species are met with; these kangaroos must have been of
enormous size, twice or thrice that of any species now living.
There are some twenty smaller species in Australia and Tasmania,
besides the rock wallabies and the
hare kangaroos; these last are wonderfully
swift, making clear jumps 8 or io
ft. high. Other terrestrial marsupials are the
wombat (
Phascolomys), a large, clumsy,
burrowing animal, not unlike a
pig,
which attains a weight of from 60 to 100 lb; the
bandicoot
(
Perameles), a
rat-like
creature whose depredations
annoy the agriculturist; the native
cat (
Dasyurus), noted robber
of the
poultry yard; the Tasmanian
wolf (
Thylacinus), which preys on large game; and the
recently discovered
Notoryctes, a small animal which
burrows like a
mole in the desert
of the interior. Arboreal species include the well-known opossums
(
Phalanger); the extraordinary tree-kangaroo of the
Queensland tropics; the
flying squirrel, which expands a
membrane between the legs and arms, and by its aid makes long
sailing jumps from tree to tree; and the native bear
(
Phascolarctos), an animal with no affinities to the bear,
and having a long soft
fur and no
tail.
The
Myrmecobius of Western Australia is a bushy-tailed
ant-eater about the size of a
squirrel, and from its
lineage and structure of more than passing interest. It is, Mivart
remarks, a survival of a very ancient state of things. It had
ancestors in a flourishing condition during the Secondary epoch.
Its congeners even then lived in
England, as is proved by the fact that their
relics have been found in the
Stonesfield oolitic rocks, the deposition of which is separated
from that which gave rise to the
Paris Tertiary strata by an
abyss of past time which we cannot venture to
express even in thousands of years.
We pass on to the other curious order of non-placental mammals,
that of the Monotremata, so called from the structure of their
organs of evacuation with a single orifice, as in birds. Their
abdominal bones are like those of the marsupials; and they are
furnished with pouches for their young, but have no teats, the
milk being distilled into their
pouches from the mammary glands. Australia and Tasmania possess two
animals of this order - the
echidna, or spiny ant-eater (hairy in
Tasmania), and the
Platypus anatinus, the duckbilled water
mole, otherwise named the
Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. This
odd animal is provided with a bill
or
beak, which is not, like that
of a
bird, affixed to the
skeleton, but is merely
attached to the skin and muscles.
Australia has no apes, monkeys or baboons, and no ruminant
beasts. The comparatively few indigenous placental mammals, besides
the
dingo or wild
dog - which, however, may have come from the
islands north of this continent - are of the
bat tribe and of the rodent or rat tribe. There are
four species of large fruit-eating bats, called flying foxes,
twenty of insect-eating bats, above twenty of land-rats, and five
of water-rats. The sea produces three different
seals, which often ascend rivers from the coast,
and can live in lagoons of fresh water; many cetaceans, besides the
" right
whale " and
sperm whale; and the
dugong, found on the northern
shores, which yields a valuable medicinal oil.
The birds of Australia in their number and variety of species
may be deemed some
compensation for its poverty of mammals;
yet it will not stand comparison in this respect with regions of
Africa and South America in the same latitudes. The black swan was
thought remarkable when discovered, as belying an old
Latin proverb. There is also a white
eagle. The
vulture is wanting. Sixty species of parrots,
some of them very handsome, are found in Australia. The emu
corresponds with the African and Arabian
ostrich, the
rhea of South America, and the cassowary of the
Moluccas and New Guinea. In
New Zealand this group is represented by the apteryx, as it
formerly was by the gigantic
moa,
the remains of which have been found likewise in Queensland. The
graceful
Menura superba, or
lyre-bird, with its tail feathers spread in
the shape of a
lyre, is a very
characteristic form. The
mound-raising megapodes, the bower-building
satin-birds, and several others, display peculiar habits. The
honey-eaters present a great diversity of plumage. There are also
many kinds of game birds, pigeons, ducks, geese, plovers and
quails. The
ornithology of New South Wales and
Queensland is more varied and interesting than that of the other
provinces.
As for reptiles, Australia has a few tortoises, all of one
family, and not of great size. The " leathery turtle," which is
herbivorous, and yields abundance of oil, has been caught at sea
off the
Illawarra coast
so large as 9 ft. in length. The saurians or lizards are numerous,
chiefly on dry sandy or rocky ground in the tropical region. The
great crocodile of Queensland has been known to attain a length of
30 ft.; there is a smaller one about 6 ft. in length to be met with
in the shallow lagoons of the interior of the Northern Territory.
Lizards occur in great profusion and variety. The
monitor, or forktongued
lizard, which burrows in the
earth, climbs and swims, is said to grow to a length of 8 to 9 f t.
This species and many others do not extend to Tasmania. The monitor
is popularly known as the goanna, a name derived from the
iguana, an entirely different
animal. There are about twenty kinds of night-lizards, and many
which hibernate. One species can utter a cry when pained or
alarmed, and the tall-standing frilled lizard can lift its
forelegs, and squat or
hop like a
kangaroo. There is also the
Moloch horridus of South and Western
Australia, covered with tubercles bearing large spines, which give
it a very strange aspect. This and some other lizards have power to
change their colour, not only from light to dark, but over some
portions of their bodies, from yellow to grey or red. Frogs of many
kinds are plentiful, the brilliant green frogs being especially
conspicuous and noisy. Australia is rich in snakes, and has more
than a hundred different kinds. Most of these are venomous, but all
are not equally dreaded. Five rather common species are certainly
deadly - the death
adder, the
brown, the black, the superb and the
tiger snakes. During the colder months these
reptiles remain in a torpid state. No certain cure has been or is
likely to be discovered for their
poison, but in less serious cases
strychnine has been used
with advantage. In tropical waters a sea snake is found, which,
though very poisonous, rarely bites. Among the inoffensive species
are counted the graceful green " tree snake," which pursues frogs,
birds and lizards to the topmost branches of the forest; also
several species of pythons, the commonest of which is known as the
carpet snake. These great
reptiles may attain a length of To ft.; they feed on small animals
which they crush to death in their folds.
The Australian seas are inhabited by many fishes of the same
genera as exist in the southern parts of Asia and Africa. Of those
peculiar to Australian waters may be mentioned the arripis,
represented by what is called among the colonists a
salmon trout. A very fine
freshwater fish is the
Murray cod, which sometimes weighs Too lb;
and the golden
perch, found in
the same river, has rare beauty of colour. Among the sea fish, the
schnapper is of great value as an article of food, and its weight
comes up to 50 lb. This is the
Pagrus unicolor, of the
family of
Sparidae, which includes also the
bream. Its colours are beautiful,
pink and red with a silvery gloss;
but the male as it grows old takes on a singular deformity of the
head, with a swelling in the shape of a monstrous human-like
nose. These fish frequent rocky
shoals off the eastern coast and are caught in numbers outside
Port Jackson for the
Sydney market. Two species of
mackerel, differing somewhat from the European
species, are also caught on the coasts. The so-called red
garnet, a pretty fish, with hues
of
carmine and blue stripes
on its head, is much esteemed for the table. The
Trigla
polyommata, or flying garnet, is a greater beauty, with its
body of
crimson and
silver, and its large
pectoral fins, spread like
wings, of a rich green, bordered with
purple, and relieved by a black and white spot.
Whiting,
mullet,
gar-fish, rock
cod and many others known by local names, are in
the lists of edible fishes belonging to New South Wales and
Victoria. Oysters abound on the eastern coast, and on the shelving
banks of a vast extent of the northern coast
the pearl oyster is the source of a considerable
industry.
Two existing fishes may be mentioned as ranking in interest with
the
Myrmecobius (ant-eater) in the eyes of the naturalist.
These are the
Ceratodus Forsteri and the Port
Jackson shark. The " mudfish "
of Queensland (
Ceratodus Forsteri) belongs to an ancient
order of fishes - the Dipnoi, only a few species of which have
survived from past geological periods. The Dipnoi show a distinct
transition between fishes and
amphibia. So far the mud-fish has been found
only in the
Mary and the Burnett
rivers. Hardly of less scientific interest is the Port Jackson
shark (
Heterodontus). It is a harmless helmeted
ground-shark, living on molluscs, and almost the sole survivor of a
genus abundant in the Secondary rocks of Europe.
The eastern parts of Australia are very much richer both in
their
botany and in their
zoology than any of the other parts. This is due in part to the
different physical conditions there prevailing and in part to the
invasion of the north-eastern portion of the continent by a number
of plants characteristically Melanesian. This element was
introduced via Torres Strait, and spread down the Queensland coast
to portions of the New South Wales littoral, and also round the
Gulf of Carpentaria, but has never been able to obtain a hold in
the more arid interior. It has so completely obliterated the
original flora, that a Queensland coast
jungle is almost an exact replication of what
may be seen on the opposite shores of the straits, in New Guinea.
This wealth of plant life is confined to the littoral and the
coastal valleys, but the central valleys and the plateaux have, if
not a varied flora, a considerable wealth of timber trees in every
way superior to the flora inland in the same latitudes. In the
interior there is little change in the general aspect of the
vegetation, from the Australian Bight to the region of Carpentaria,
where the
exotic element
begins. Behind the luxuriant jungles of the sub-tropical coast,
once over the main range, we find the purely Australian flora with
its apparent sameness and sombre dulness. Physical surroundings
rather than latitude determine the character of the flora. The
contour lines showing the heights above sea-level are the
directions along which species spread to form zones. Putting aside
the exotic vegetation of the north and east coast-line, the
Australian
bush gains its peculiar
character from the prevalence of the so-called gum-trees
(
Eucalyptus) and the acacias, of which last there are 300
species, but the eucalypts above all are everywhere. Dwarfed
eucalypts fringe the tree-limit on Mount Kosciusco, and the
soakages in the parched interior are indicated by a line of the
same trees, stunted and straggling. Over the vast continent from
Wilson's Promontory to Cape York, north, south, east and west -
where anything can grow - there will be found a gum-tree. The
eucalypts are remarkable for the oil secreted in their leaves, and
the large quantity of astringent
resin of their bark. This resinous exudation
(Kino) somewhat resembles gum, hence the name " gum " tree. It will
not dissolve in water as gums do, but it is soluble in
alcohol, as resin usually is.
Many of the gumtrees throw off their bark, so that it hangs in long
dry strips from the
trunk and
branches, a feature familiar in " bush " pictures. The bark, resin
and "
oils " of the eucalyptus are
well known as commercial products. As early as 1866, tannic
acid,
gallic acid, wood spirit,
acetic acid, essential
oil and eucalyptol were produced from various species of
eucalyptus, and researches made by Australian chemists, notably by
Messrs. Baker and Smith of the Sydney Technical College, have
brought to light many other valuable products likely to prove of
commercial value. The genus
Eucalyptus numbers more than
150 species, and provides some of the most durable timbers known.
The
iron-bark of the eastern coast
uplands is well known (
Eucalyptus sideroxylon), and is so
called from the hardness of the wood, the bark not being remarkable
except for its rugged and blackened aspect. Samples of this timber
have been studied after forty-three years'
immersion in sea-water. Portions most liable
to destruction, those parts between the
tide marks, were found perfectly sound, and showed
no signs of the ravages of marine organisms. Other valuable timber
trees of the eastern portion of the continent are the blackbutt,
tallow-wood, spotted gum, red
gum,
mahogany, and blue
gum, eucalyptus; and the
turpentine (
Syncarpialaurifolia),
which has proved to be more resistant to the attacks of
teredo than any other timber and
is largely used in
wharf
construction in infested waters. There are also several extremely
valuable soft timbers, the principal being red
cedar (
Cedrela Toona), silky
oak (
Grevillea robusta),
beech and a variety of
teak, with several important species
of
pine. The red gum forests of
the Murray valley and the pine forests bordering the Great Plains
are important and valuable. In Western Australia there are
extensive forests of hardwood, principally jarrah (
Eucalyptus
marginata), a very durable timber; 14,000 sq. m. of country
are covered with this species. Jarrah timber is nearly impervious
to the attacks of the teredo, and there is good evidence to show
that, exposed to wear and weather, or placed under the soil, or
used as submarine piles, the wood remained intact after nearly
fifty years' trial. The following figures show the high
density of Australian timber:
Australian Specific timber. gravity.
Jarrah.. 1.12 Grey iron-bark. 1.18 Red iron-bark.. P22 Forest
oak. 1 21 Tallow wood. P23 Mahogany. I 20 Grey gum. 917 Red
gum.
995 European Specific timber. gravity.
Ash..
535 British oak '99 The resistance to breaking or rupture of
Australian timber is very high; grey iron-bark with a specific
gravity of 1.18 has a modulus of rupture of 17,900 lb per sq. in.
compared with 11,800 lb for British oak with a specific gravity of
69 to 99. No Australian timber in the foregoing list has a less
modulus than 13,100 lb per sq. in.
Various " scrubs " characterize the interior, differing very
widely from the coastal scrubs. " Mallee " scrub occupies large
tracts of South Australia and Victoria, covering probably an extent
of 16,000 sq. m. The mallee is a species of eucalyptus growing 12
to 14 ft. high. The tree breaks into thin stems close to the
ground, and these branch again and again, the leaves being
developed umbrellafashion on the outer branches. The mallee scrub
appears like a forest of dried
osier, growing so close that it is not always
easy to ride through it. Hardly a
leaf is visible to the height of one's head; but
above, a
crown of thick
leather-like leaves shuts out
the sunlight. The ground below is perfectly bare, and there is no
water. Nothing could add to the sterility and the monotony of these
mallee scrubs. " Mulga " scrub is a somewhat similar thicket,
covering large areas. The tree in this instance is one of the
acacias, a genus distributed through all parts of the continent.
Some species have rather elegant blossoms, known to the settlers as
" wattle." They serve admirably to break the sombre and monotonous
aspect of the Australian vegetation. Two species of
acacia are remarkable for the
delicate and
violet-like
perfume of their wood - myall and yarran. The majority of the
species of
Acacia are edible and serve as reserve fodder
for
sheep and
cattle. In the alluvial portions of the interior
salsolaceous plants - saltbush, bluebush, cottonbush - are
invaluable to the pastoralist, and to their presence the pre-
eminence of Australia as a
wool-producing
country is largely due.
Grasses and herbage in
great variety constitute the most valuable element of Australian
flora from the commercial point of view. The herbage for the most
part grows with marvellous rapidity after a spring or autumn shower
and forms a natural shelter for the more
stable growth of nutritious grasses.
Under the system of grazing practised throughout Australia it is
customary to allow sheep, cattle and horses to run at large all the
year round within enormous enclosures and to depend entirely upon
the natural growth of grass for their subsistence. Proteaceous
plants, although not exclusively Australian, are exceedingly
characteristic of Australian scenery, and are counted amongst the
oldest flowering plants of the world. The order is easily
distinguished by the hard, dry, woody texture of the leaves and the
dehiscent fruits. They are found in New Zealand and also in
New Caledonia,
their greatest developments being on the south-west of the
Australian continent. Proteaceae are found also in
Tierra del
Fuego and
Chile. They are
also abundant in South Africa, where the order forms the most
conspicuous feature of vegetation. The range in species is very
limited, no one being common to eastern and western Australia. The
chief genera are
banksia
(
honeysuckle), and hakea (
needle bush). The Moreton
Bay pine (
Araucania
Cunninghamii) is reckoned amongst the giants of the forest.
The genus is associated with one long extinct in Europe. Moreton
Bay pine is chiefly known by the utility of its wood. Another
species,
A. Bidwillii, or the bunyabunya, afforded food in
its
nut-like seeds to the
aborigines. A most
remarkable form of vegetation in the north-west is the
gouty-stemmed tree (
Adansonia Gregorii), one of the
Malvaceae. It is related
closely to the famous
baobab
of tropical Africa. The " grass-tree " (
Xanthorrhoea), of
the uplands and coast regions, is peculiarly Australian in its
aspect. It is seen as a
clump of
wire-like leaves, a few feet in diameter, surrounding a stem,
hardly thicker than a walking-stick, rising to a height of Jo or 12
ft. This terminates in a long spike thickly studded with white
blossoms. The grass-tree gives as distinct a character to an
Australian picture as the
agave
and
cactus do to the Mexican
landscape. With these might be associated the gigantic
lily of Queensland (
Nymphaea
gigantea), the leaves of which
float on water, and are quite 18 in. across.
There is also a gigantic lily (
Doryanthes excelsa) which
grows to a height of 15 feet. The "
flame tree " is a most conspicuous feature of an
Illawarra landscape, the largest racemes of crimson red suggesting
the name. The waratah or native
tulip, the magnificent flowering head of which,
with the kangaroo, is symbolic of the country, is one of the
Proteaceae. The natives were accustomed to suck its tubular flowers
for the honey they contained. The " nardoo "
seed, on which the aborigines sometimes contrived
to exist, is a creeping plant, growing plentifully in swamps and
shallow pools, and belongs to the natural order of Marsileaceae.
The spore-cases remain after the plant is dried up and withered.
These are collected by the natives, and are known over most of the
continent as nardoo.
No
speculation of
hypothesis has been propounded to account satisfactorily for the
origin of the Australian flora. As a step towards such hypothesis
it has been noted that the Antarctic, the South African, and the
Australian floras have many types in common. There is also to a
limited extent a European element present. One thing is certain,
that there is in Australia a flora that is a remnant of a
vegetation once widely distributed. Heer has described such
Australian genera as Banksia, Eucalyptus,
Grevillea and
Hakea from the
Miocene of
Switzerland. Another point agreed upon is
that the Australian flora is one of vast antiquity. There are
genera so far removed from every living genus that many connecting
links must have become extinct. The region extending round the
south-western extremity of the continent has a peculiarly
characteristic assemblage of typical Australian forms, notably a
great abundance of the Proteaceae. This flora, isolated by arid
country from the rest of the continent, has evidently derived its
plant life from an outside source, probably from lands no longer
existing.
Political And Economic Conditions
Population. 1 - The
Australian people are mainly of British origin, only 34% of the
population of European descent being of non-British race. It is
certain that the aborigines (see the section on Aborigines below)
are very much less numerous than when the country was first
colonized, but their present numbers can be given for only a few of
the states. At the
census of
1901, 48,248 aborigines were enumerated, of whom 7434 were in New
South Wales, 652 in Victoria, 27,123 in South Australia, and 6212
in Western Australia. The assertion by the Queensland authorities
that there are 50,000 aborigines in that state is a crude estimate,
and may be far wide of the truth. In South Australia and the
Northern Territory a large number are outside the bounds of
settlement, and it is probable that they are as numerous there as
in Queensland. The census of Western Australia included only those
aborigines in the employment of the colonists; and as a large part
of this, the greatest of the Australian states, is as yet
unexplored, it may be presumed that the aborigines enumerated were
very far short of the whole number of persons of that race in the
state. Taking all things into consideration, the aboriginal
population of the continent may be set down at something like
180,000. Chinese, numbering about 30,000, are chiefly found in New
South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and the Northern Territory. Of
Japanese there were 3500, of Hindu and Sinhalese 4600, according to
recent computation, but the policy of the
Commonwealth is adverse to further
immigration of other
than whites.
South Sea Islanders and other coloured
races, numbering probably about 15,000, were in 1906 to be found
principally in Queensland, but further immigration of Pacific
Islanders to Australia is now restricted, and the majority of those
in the country in 1906 were deported by the middle of 1907.
At the close of 1906 the population of Australia was
approximately 4,120,000, exclusive of aborigines. The increase of
population since 1871 was as follows: 1871, 1,668,377; 1881,
2,252,617; 1891, 3,183,237; 1901, 3,773,248. The expansion has been
due mainly to the natural increase; that is, by reason of excess of
births over deaths. Immigration to Australia has been very slight
since 1891, owing originally to the stoppage of progress consequent
on the bank crisis of 1893, and, subsequently, to the
disinclination of several of the state governments towards
immigration and their failure to provide for the welfare of
immigrants on their arrival. During 1906 a more rational view of
the value of immigration was adopted by the various state
governments and by the
federal government, and immigration
to Australia is now systematically encouraged. Australia's gain of
population by immigration, - i.e. the excess of the 1 The
statistical portion of this article includes Tasmania, which is a
member of the Australian Commonwealth.
inward over the outward movement of a population - since the
discovery of
gold in 1851,
arranged in ten years periods, was 1852-1861.1862-1871 -1872-1881
1882-1891 .
1892-1901.. .
During the five years following the last year of the foregoing
table, there was practically no increase in population by
immigration.
The birth rate averages 26.28 per thousand of the population and
the death rate 12.28, showing a
net
increase of 14 per thousand by reason of the excess of births over
deaths. The marriage rate varies as in other countries from year to
year according to the degree of prosperity prevailing. In the five
years 1881-1888 the rate was 8 08 marriages (16.1 persons) per
thousand of the population, declining to 6.51 in 1891-1895; in
recent years there has been a considerable improvement, and the
Australian marriage rate may be quoted as ranging between 6.75 and
7.25. The death rate of Australia is much below that of European
countries and is steadily declining. During the twenty years
preceding the census of 1901 there was a fall in the death rate of
3.4 per thousand, of which, however, 1 per thousand is attributable
to the decline in the birth rate, the balance being attributable to
improved sanitary conditions.
|
Sq. m.
|
|
New South Wales .
|
310,700
|
|
Victoria .
|
87,884
|
|
Queensland .
|
668,497
|
|
South Australia .
|
903,690
|
|
Western Australia .
|
975,920
|
|
2,946,691
|
|
Tasmania .
|
. 26,215
|
|
Commonwealth
|
. 2,972,906
|
Territorial Divisions. - Australia is politically
divided into five states, which with the island of Tasmania form
the Commonwealth of Australia. The area of the various states is as
follows: To the area of the Commonwealth shown in the table might
be added that of New Guinea, 90,000 sq. m.; this would bring the
area of the territory controlled by the Commonwealth to 3,062,906
sq. m. The distribution of population at the close of 1906
(4,118,000) was New South Wales 1,530,000, Victoria 1,223,000,
Queensland 534,000, South Australia 381,000, Western Australia
270,000, Tasmania 180,000. The rate of increase since the previous
census was 1.5% per annum, varying from 0.31 in Victoria to 2 06 in
New South Wales and 6.9 in Western Australia.
Australia contains four cities whose population exceeds ioo,000,
and fifteen with over 10,000. The principal cities and towns are
Sydney (pop. 530,000),
Newcastle,
Broken Hill,
Parramatta,
Goulburn, Maitland, Bathurst, Orange,
Lithgow,
Tamworth,
Grafton, Wagga and
Albury, in New South Wales; Melbourne (pop.
511,900), Ballarat,
Bendigo,
Geelong,
Eaglehawk,
Warrnambool,
Castlemaine, and
Stawell in Victoria; Brisbane
(pop. 128,000), Rockhampton,
Maryborough, Townsville,
Gympie, Ipswich, and
Toowoomba in Queensland; Adelaide (pop. about
175,000),
Port
Adelaide and
Port
Pirie in South Australia; Perth (pop. 56,000),
Fremantle, and
Kalgoorlie in Western
Australia; and
Hobart (pop.
35,500) and Launceston in Tasmania.
Defence
Up to the end of the 19th century, little was thought of any
locally-raised or locally-provided defensive forces, the
mother-country being relied upon. But the
Transvaal War of 1899-1902, to which
Australia sent 6310
volunteers (principally mounted rifles), and
the gradual increase of military sentiment, brought the question
more to the front, and more and more attention was given to making
Australian defence a matter of local concern. Naval defence in any
case remained primarily a question for the Imperial
navy, and by agreement (1903, for ten years)
between the British government and the governments of the
Commonwealth (contributing an annual
subsidy of £200,000) and of New Zealand
(£40,000), an efficient fleet patrolled the Australasian waters,
Sydney, its headquarters, being ranked as a first-class naval
station. Under the agreement a royal naval reserve was maintained,
three of the Imperial vessels provided being utilized as
drill ships for crews recruited
from the Australian states. At the end of 1908 the strength of the
naval forces under the Commonwealth defence department was:
permanent, 217, naval
militia, 1016; the estimated expenditure for
1908-1909 being £63,531. In 1908-1909 a movement began for the
establishment by Australia of a local flotilla of
torpedo-
boat destroyers, to be controlled by the
Commonwealth in peace time, but subject to the orders of the
British admiralty in war time, though not to be removed from the
Australian coast without the sanction of the Commonwealth; and by
1909 three such vessels had been ordered in England preparatory to
building others in Australia. The military establishment at the
beginning of 1909 was represented by a small permanent force of
about 1400, a militia strength of about 17,000, and some 6000
volunteers, besides 50,000 members of rifle clubs and 30,000
cadets; the expenditure being (estimate, 1908-1909) £623,946. But a
reorganization of the military forces, on the basis of obligatory
national training, was already contemplated, though the first Bill
introduced for this purpose by Mr Deakin's government (Sept. 1908)
was dropped, and in 1909 the subject was still under
discussion.
Religion
There is no state church in Australia, nor is the teaching of
religion in any way subsidized by the state.
The
Church of England claims as adherents 39% of the population,
and the
Roman Catholic Church 22%; next
in numerical strength are the Wesleyans and other Methodists,
numbering 12% i the various branches of the Presbyterians 11%,
Congregationalists 2%, and
Baptists 2%. These proportions varied very
little between 1881 and 1906, and may be taken as accurately
representing the present strength of the various Christian
denominations. Churches of all denominations are liberally
supported throughout the states, and the residents of every
settlement, however small, have their places of worship erected and
maintained by their own contributions.
Instruction
Education is very widely distributed, and in every state it is
compulsory for children of school ages to attend school. The
statutory ages differ in the various states; in New South Wales and
Western Australia it is from 6 to 13 years inclusive, in Victoria 6
to 12 years, in Queensland 6 to II years, and in South Australia 7
to 12 years inclusive. Religious instruction is not imparted by the
state-paid teachers in any state, though in certain states persons
duly authorized by the religious organizations are allowed to give
religious instruction to children of their own
denomination where
the parents' consent has been obtained. According to the returns
for 1905 there were 7292 state schools, with 15,628 teachers and
648,927 pupils, and the average attendance of scholars was 446,000.
Besides state schools there were 2145 private schools, with 7825
teachers and 137,000 scholars, the average number of scholars in
attendance being 120,000. The census of 1901 showed that about 83%
of the whole population and more than 91% of the population over
five years of age could read and write. There was, therefore, a
residue of 9% of illiterates,
most of whom were not born in Australia. The marriage registers
furnish another test of education. In 1905 only ten persons in
every thousand married were unable to sign their names, thus
proving that the number of illiterate adults of Australian birth is
very small.
Instruction at state schools is either free or at merely nominal
cost, and high schools, technical colleges and agricultural
colleges are maintained by appropriations from the general revenues
of the states. There are also numerous grammar schools and other
private schools. Universities have been established at Sydney,
Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart, and are well equipped and
numerously attended; they are in part supported by grants from the
public funds and in part by private endowments and the fees paid by
students. The number of students attending lectures is about 2500
and the annual income a little over £ioo,000. The cost of public
instruction ih Australia averages about I Is. 4d. per inhabitant,
and the cost per scholar in average attendance at state schools is
£4 :13: 9.
Pastoral and
Agricultural Industries
The continent is. 520,713.188,158.223,326 374,097 2,377
essentially a pastoral one, and the products of the flocks and
herds constitute the chief element in the wealth of Australia.
Practically the whole of the territory between the 145°
meridian and the Great
Dividing Range, as well as extensive tracts in the south and west,
are a natural sheep pasture with climatic conditions and indigenous
vegetation pre - eminently adapted for the growth of wool of the
highest quality. Numerically the flocks of Australia represent
one-sixth of the world's sheep, and in just over half a century
(1851-1905) the exports of Australian wool alone reached the value
of £650,000,000. During the same period, owing to the efforts of
pastoralists to improve their flocks, there was a gradual increase
in the weight of wool produced per sheep from 341b to an average of
over 71b. The cattle and
horse-breeding industries are of minor importance
as compared with wool-growing, but nevertheless represent a great
source of wealth, with vast possibilities of expansion in the
over-sea trade. The perfection of refrigeration in over-sea
carriage, which has done so
much to extend the markets for Australian
beef and mutton, has also furthered the expansion
of dairying, there being an annual output of over 160 million lb of
butter, valued at £6,000,000;
of this about 64 million lb, valued at £2,500,000, is exported
annually to British markets.
Next to the pastoral industry,
agriculture is the principal source of
Australian wealth. At the close of 1905 the area devoted to tillage
was 9,365,000 acres, the area utilized for the production of
breadstuffs being 6,270,000 acres or over two-thirds of the whole
extent of cultivation. At first
wheat was cultivated solely in the coastal
country, but experience has shown that the
staple cereal can be most successfully grown
over almost any portion of the arable lands within the 20 to 40 in.
rainfall areas. The value of Australian wheat and
flour exported in 1905 was £5,500,000.
Other important crops grown are -
maize, 324,000 acres; oats, 493,000 acres; other
grains, 160,000 acres; hay, 1,367,000 acres; potatoes, 119,000
acres;
sugar-
cane, 141,000 acres; vines, 65,000 acres; and
other crops, 422,000 acres. The chief wheat lands are in Victoria,
South Australia and New South Wales; the yield averages about 9
bushels to the
acre; this low average is due to the
endeavour of settlers on new lands to cultivate larger areas than
their resources can effectively deal with; the introduction of
scientific farming should almost double the yield. Maize and
sugar-cane are grown in New South Wales and Queensland.. The
vine is cultivated in all the states,
but chiefly in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
Australia produces abundant quantities and nearly all varieties of
fruits; but the kinds exported are chiefly oranges, pineapples,
bananas and apples.
Tobacco
thrives well in New South Wales and Victoria, but kinds suitable
for exportation are not largely grown. Compared with the principal
countries of the world, Australia does not take a high position in
regard to the
gross value of the
produce of its tillage, the standard of cultivation being for the
most part low and without regard to maximum returns, but in value
per inhabitant it compares fairly well; indeed, some of the states
show averages which surpass those of many of the leading
agricultural countries. For 1905 the total value of agricultural
produce estimated at the place of production was 18,750,000
sterling, or about £4: 13: 4
per inhabitant.
Timber Industry
Although the timbers of commercial value are confined
practically to the eastern and a portion of the western coastal
belt and a few inland tracts of Australia, they constitute an
important national asset. The early settlement of heavily timbered
country was characterized by wanton destruction of vast quantities
of magnificent timber; but this waste is a thing of the past, and
under the pressure of a demand for sound timber both for local use
and for exportation, the various governments are doing much to
conserve the state forests. In Western Australia, New South Wales,
Tasmania and Queensland there are many hundreds of well-equipped
saw-mills affording employment to about 5000 men. The export of
timber is in ordinary years valued at a million sterling and the
total production at £ 2,250,000.
Excellent fish of many varieties abound in the Australian seas
and in many of the rivers. In several of the states, fish have been
introduced successfully from other countries. Trout may now be
taken in many of the mountain streams. At one time whaling was an
important industry on the coasts of New South Wales and Tasmania,
and afterwards on the Western Australian coasts. The industry
gravitated to New Zealand, and finally died out, chiefly through
the wasteful practice of killing the calves to secure the capture
of the mothers. Of late years whaling has again attracted
attention, and a small number of vessels prosecute the industry
during the season. The only source of maritime wealth that is now
being sufficiently exploited to be regarded as an industry is the
gathering of
pearl-oysters from
the beds off the northern and north-western coasts of the
continent. In Queensland waters there are about 300 vessels, and on
the Western Australian coast about 450 licensed craft engaged in
the industry, the annual value of pearl-
shell and pearls raised being nearly half a
million sterling. Owing to the depletion of some of the more
accessible banks, and to difficulties in connexion with the
employment of coloured crews, many of the vessels have now gone
farther afield. As the pearl-oyster is remarkably prolific, it is
considered by experts that within a few years of their
abandonment by fishing
fleets the denuded banks will become as abundantly stocked as
ever.
Mineral Production
Australia is one of the great gold producers of the world, and
its yield in 1905 was about £16,000,000 sterling, or one-fourth of
the gold output of the world; and the total value of its mineral
production was approximately £25,000,000. Gold is found throughout
Australia, and the present prosperity of the states is largely due
to the discoveries of this
metal, the development of other industries being,
in a country of varied resources, a natural sequence to the
acquisition of mineral treasure. From the date of its first
discovery, up to the close of 1905, gold to the value of
£460,000,000 sterling has been obtained in Australia. Victoria, in
a period of fifty-four years, contributed about £273,000,000 to
this total, and is still a large producer, its annual yield being
about 800,000 oz., 29,000 men being engaged in the search for the
precious metal.
Queensland's annual output is between 750,000 and 800,000 oz.; the
number of men engaged in goldmining is io,000. In New South Wales
the greatest production was in 1852, soon after the first discovery
of the precious metal, when the output was valued at £2,660,946;
the production in 1905 was about 270,000 oz., valued at £1,150,000.
For many years Western Australia was considered to be destitute of
mineral
deposits of any value, but it is now known that a rich belt of
mineral country extends from north to south. The first important
discovery was made in 1882, when gold was found in the Kimberley
district; but it was not until a few years later that this rich and
extensive area was developed. In 1887 gold was found in Yilgarn,
about 200 m. east of Perth. This was the first of the many rich
discoveries in the same district which have made Western Australia
the chief gold-producer of the Australian group. In 1907 there were
eighteen goldfields in the state, and it was estimated that over
30,000 miners were actively engaged in the search for gold. In 1905
the production amounted to 1,983,000 oz., valued at £8,300,000.
Tasmania is a gold producer to the extent of about 70,000 or 80,000
oz. a year, valued at £300,000; South Australia produces about
30,000 oz.
Gold is obtained chiefly from quartz reefs, but there are still
some important alluvial deposits being worked. The greatest
development of quartz reefing is found in Victoria, some of the
mines being of great depth. There are eight mines in the Bendigo
district over 3000 ft. deep, and fourteen over 2500 ft. deep. In
the Victoria mine a depth of 3750 ft. has been reached, and in
Lazarus mine 3424 ft. In the
Ballarat district a depth of 2520 ft. has been reached in the South
Star mine. In Queensland there is
one mine 3156 ft. deep, and several others exceed 2000 ft. in
depth. A considerable number of men are engaged in the various
states on alluvial fields, in hydraulic sluicing, and dredging is
now adopted for the winning of gold in river deposits. So far this
form of winning is chiefly carried on in New South Wales, where
there are about fifty gold-dredging plants in successful operation.
Over 70,000 men are employed in the gold-
mining industry, more than two-thirds of them
being engaged in quartz mining.
Silver has been discovered in all the states, either alone or in
the form of sulphides, antimonial and arsenical ores, chloride,
bromide,. iodide and chloro-bromide of silver, and argentiferous
Silver lead ores, the
largest deposits of the metal being found in the last-mentioned
form. The leading silver mines are in New South Wales, the returns
from the other states being comparatively insignificant. The fields
of New South Wales have proved to be of immense value, the yield of
silver and lead during 1905 being £2,500,000, and the total output
to the end of the year named over £40,000,000. The Broken Hill
field, which was discovered in 1883, extends over 2500 sq. m. of
country, and has developed into one of the principal mining centres
of the world. It is situated beyond the river Darling, and close to
the boundary between New South Wales and South Australia. The lodes
occur in Silurian metamorphic micaceous
schists, intruded by
granite,
porphyry and
diorite, and traversed by numerous quartz
reefs, some of which are gold-bearing. The Broken Hill
lode is the largest yet discovered.
It varies in width from 10 ft. to 200 ft., and may be traced for
several miles. Although indications of silver abound in all the
other states, no fields of great importance have yet been
discovered. Up to the end of 1904 Australia had produced silver to
the value of £45,000,000. At Broken Hill mines about 11,000 miners
are employed.
Copper is known to exist in
all the states, and has been mined extensively in South Australia,
New South Wales, Queensland and. Tasmania. The low quotations which
ruled for a number
Copper of years had a depressing effect
upon the industry, and many mines once profitably worked were
temporarily closed, but in 1906 there was a general revival. The
discovery of copper had a marked effect on the fortunes of South
Australia at a time when the young colony was surrounded by
difficulties. The first important mine, the
Kapunda, was opened up in 1842. It is estimated
that at one time 2000 tons were produced annually, but the mine was
closed ' in 1879. In 1845 the celebrated Burra Burra mine was
discovered. This mine proved to be very rich, and paid £800,000 in
dividends to the original owners. For a number of years, however,
the mine has been suffered to remain untouched, as the deposits
originally worked were found to be depleted. For many years the
average output was from 10,000 to 13,000 tons of ore, yielding from
22 to 23% of copper. For the period of
thirty
years during which the mine was worked the production of ore
amounted to 234,648 tons, equal to 51,622 tons of copper, valued at
£4,749,924. The Wallaroo and Moonta mines, discovered in 1860 and
1861, proved to be even more valuable than the Burra Burra, the
Moonta mines employing at one time upwards of 1600 hands. The
dividends paid by these mines amounted to about £1,750,000
sterling. The satisfactory price obtained during recent years has
enabled renewed attention to be paid to copper mining in South
Australia, and the production of the metal in 1905 was valued at
£470,324. The principal deposits of copper in New South Wales are
found in the central part of the state between the
Macquarie, Darling and
Bogan rivers. Deposits have also been found in the New England and
southern districts, as well as at Broken Hill, showing that the
mineral is widely distributed throughout the state. The more
important mines are those of
Cobar, where the Great Cobar mine produces
annually nearly 4000 tons of refined copper. In northern Queensland
copper is found throughout the Cloncurry district, in the upper
basin of the Star river, and the
Herberton district. The returns from the
copper fields in the state are at present a little over half a
million sterling per annum, and would be still greater if it were
not for the lack of suitable
fuel
for smelting purposes, which renders the economical treatment of
the ore difficult; the development of the mines is also retarded by
the want of easy and cheaper communication with the coast. In
Western Australia copper deposits have been worked for some years.
Very rich lodes of the metal have been found in the
Northampton, Murchison
and Champion Bay districts, and also in the country to the south of
these districts on the Irwin river. Tasmania is now the largest
copper-producing state of the Commonwealth; in 1905 the output was
over £672,010 and in earlier years even larger. The chief mines
belong to the Mount Lyell Mining &
Railway Co., and are situated on the west side
of the island with an outlet by rail to Strahan on the west coast.
The total value of copper produced in Australia up to the end of
1905 was £42,500,000 sterling, £24,500,000 having been obtained in
South Australia, £7,500,000 in New South Wales, £6,400,000 in
Tasmania and over £3,500,000 in Queensland.
Tin was known to exist in
Australia from the first years of colonization. The wealth of
Queensland and the Northern Territory
Tia. in this
mineral, according to the reports of Dr Jack, late Government
geologist of the former state, and the late Rev. J. E.
Tenison-Woods, appears to be very great. The most important
tin-mines in Queensland are in the Herberton district, south-west
of
Cairns; at
Cooktown, on the
Annan and
Bloomfield rivers; and at Stanthorpe, on the
border of New South Wales. Herberton and Stanthorpe have produced
more than three-fourths of the total production of the state.
Towards the close of the 19th century the production greatly
decreased in consequence of the low price of the metal, but in 1899
a stimulus was given to the industry, [[[Minerals]] and since then
the production has increased very considerably, the output for 1905
being valued at £989,627. In New South Wales lode tin occurs
principally in the granite and stream tin under the basaltic
country in the extreme north of the state, at Tenterfield,
Emmaville, Tingha, and in other districts of New England. The metal
has also been discovered in the Barrier ranges, and many other
places. The value of the output in 1905 was £226,110. The yield of
tin in Victoria is very small, and until lately no fields of
importance have been discovered; but towards the latter end of 1890
extensive deposits were reported to exist in the Gippsland district
- at Omeo and Tarwin. In South Australia tin-mining is unimportant.
In Western Australia the production from the tin-fields at
Greenbushes and elsewhere was valued at £87,000. Tasmania during
the last few years has attained the foremost position in the
production of tin, the annual output now being about £363,000. The
total value of tin produced in Australia is nearly a million
sterling per annum, and the total production to the end of 1905 was
£22,500,000, of which Tasmania produced about 40%, New South Wales
one-third, Queensland a little more than a fourth.
Iron is distributed throughout Australia, but for want of
capital for developing the fields this industry has not progressed.
In New South Wales there are, together with coal and limestone
Iron. in unlimited supply, important deposits of rich iron
ores suitable for smelting purposes; and for the manufacture of
steel of certain
descriptions abundance of
manganese, chrome and
tungsten ores are available. The most
extensive fields are in the Mittagong, Wallerawang and Rylstone
districts, which are roughly estimated to contain in the aggregate
12,944,000 tons of ore, containing 5,853,000 tons of metallic iron.
Extensive deposits, which are being developed successfully, occur
in Tasmania, it being estimated that there are, within easy
shipping facilities,
17,000,000 tons of ore.
Magnetite, or magnetic iron, the richest of
all iron ores, is found in abundance near Wallerawang in New South
Wales. The proximity of coal-beds now being worked should
accelerate the development of the iron deposits, which, on an
average, contain 41% of metal. Magnetite occurs in great abundance
in Western Australia, together with
haematite, which would be of enormous value
if cheap labour were available. Goethite,
limonite and haematite are found in New South
Wales, at the junction of the Hawkesbury sandstone formation and
the Wianamatta shale, near Nattai, and are enhanced in their value
by their proximity to coal-beds. Near Lithgow extensive deposits of
limonite, or
clay-band ore, are
interbedded with coal. Some samples of ore, coal and limestone,
obtained in the Mittagong district, with pig-iron and castings
manufactured therefrom, were exhibited at the Mining Exhibition in
London and obtained a first
award.
Antimony is widely
diffused throughout Australia, and is sometimes found associated
with gold. In New South Wales the principal centre of this industry
is Hillgrove, near Armidale, where
Other the Eleanora
Mine, one of the richest in the state, is
minerals.
situated. The ore is also worked for gold. In Victoria the
production of antimony gave employment in 1890 to 238 miners, but
owing to the low price of the metal, production has almost ceased.
In Queensland the fields were all showing development in 1891, when
the output exhibited a very large increase compared with that of
former years; but, as in the case of Victoria, the production of
the metal seems to have ceased. Good lodes of
stibnite (sulphide of antimony) have been
found near
Roebourne in
Western Australia, but no attempt has yet been made to work
them.
Bismuth is known to exist
in all the Australian states, but up to the present time it has
been mined for only in three states, viz. New South Wales,
Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. It is usually found in
association with tin and other minerals. The principal mine in New
South Wales is situated at Kingsgate, in the New England district,
where the mineral is generally associated with
molybdenum and gold.
Manganese probably exists in all the states, deposits having
been found in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western
Australia, the richest specimens being found in New South Wales.
Little, however, has been done to utilize the deposits, the demands
of the colonial markets being extremely limited. The ore generally
occurs in the form of oxides,
manganite and
pyrolusite, and contains a high percentage
of sesquioxide of manganese.
Platinum and the allied
compound metal iridosmine have been found in New South Wales, but
so far in inconsiderable quantities. Iridosmine occurs commonly
with gold or tin in alluvial drifts.
The rare element
tellurium has been discovered in New South
Wales at Bingara and other parts of the northern districts, as well
as at Tarana, on the western line, though at present in such minute
quantities as would not repay the cost of working. At many of the
mines at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, large quantities of ores of
telluride of gold have been found in the lode formations.
Lead is found in all the Australian states, but is worked only
when associated with silver. In Western Australia the lead occurs
in the form of sulphides and
carbonates of great richness, but the
quantity of silver mixed with it is very small. The lodes are most
frequently of great size, containing huge masses of
galena, and so little gangue that
the ore can very easily be dressed to 83 or 84%. The association of
this metal with silver in the Broken Hill mines of New South Wales
adds very greatly to the value of the product.
Mercury is found in New
South Wales and Queensland. In New South Wales, in the form of
cinnabar, it has been
discovered on the Cudgegong river, near Rylstone, and it also
occurs at Bingara,
Solferino, Yulgilbar and Cooma. In the
last-named place the assays of ore yielded 22% of mercury.
Titanium, in the
minerals known as octahedrite and
brookite, is found in alluvial deposits in New
South Wales, in conjunction with diamonds.
Wolfram (tungstate of iron and manganese) occurs in some of the
states, notably in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and
Queensland.
Scheelite,
another mineral of tungsten, is also found in Queensland.
Molybdenum, in the form of
molybdenite (sulphide of molybdenum), is
found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, associated in
the parent state with tin and bismuth in quartz reefs.
Zinc ores, in the several
varieties of carbonates, silicates,
oxide, sulphide and sulphate of zinc, have been
found in several of the Australian states, but have attracted
little attention except in New South Wales, where special efforts
are being made successfully to produce a high-grade zinc
concentrate from the sulphide ores. Several companies are devoting
all their energies to zinc extraction, and the output is now equal
to about 5% of the world's production.
Nickel, so abundant in the
island of New
Caledonia,
has up to the present been found in none of the Australian states
except Queensland and Tasmania. Few attempts, however, have been
made to prospect systematically for this valuable mineral.
Cobalt occurs in New South
Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and efforts have been made in
the former state to treat the ore, the metal having a high
commercial value; but the market is small, and no attempt has been
made up to 1907 to produce it on any large scale. The manganese
ores of the Bathurst district of New South Wales often contain a
small percentage of cobalt - sufficient, indeed, to
warrant further attempts to
work them. In New South Wales
chromium is found in the northern portion of
the state, in the Clarence and Tamworth districts and also near
Gundagai. It is usually associated with
serpentine. In the Gundagai district the
industry was rapidly becoming a valuable one, but the low price of
chrome has greatly restricted the output. Chromium has been
discovered in Tasmania also.
Arsenic, in its
well-known and beautiful forms,
orpiment and
realgar, is found in New South Wales and
Victoria. It usually occurs in association with other minerals in
veins.
The Australian states have been bountifully supplied with
mineral fuel. Five distinct varieties of black coal, of
well-characterized. types, may be distinguished, and these, with
the two extremes of brown coal or
lignite and
anthracite, form a perfectly continuous
series. Brown coal, or lignite, occurs principally in Victoria.
Attempts have frequently been made to use the mineral for ordinary
fuel purposes, but its inferior quality has prevented its general
use. Black coal forms one of the principal resources of New South
Wales; and in the other states the deposits of this valuable
mineral are being rapidly developed. Coal of a very fair
description was discovered in the basin of the Irwin river, in
Western Australia, as far back as the year 1846. It has been
ascertained from recent explorations that the area of carboniferous
formation in that state extends from the Irwin northwards to the
Gascoyne river, about 300 m., and probably all the way to the
Kimberley district. The most important discovery of coal in the
state, so far, is that made in the bed of the Collie river, near
Bunbury, to the south of Perth.
The coal has been treated and found to be of good quality, and
there are grounds for supposing that there are 250,000,000 tons in
the field. Dr Jack, late government geologist of Queensland,
considers the extent of the coal-fields of that state to be
practically unlimited, and is of opinion that the carboniferous
formations extend to a considerable distance under the Great
Western Plains. It is roughly estimated that the Coal Measures at
present practically explored extend over an area of about 24,000
sq. m. Coal-mining is an established industry in Queensland, and is
progressing satisfactorily. The mines, however, are situated too
far from the coast to permit of serious competition with Newcastle
in an export trade, and the output is practically restricted to
supplying local requirements. The coal-fields of New South Wales
are situated in three distinct regions - the northern, southern and
western districts. The first of these comprises chiefly the mines
of the Hunter river districts; the second includes the Illawarra
district, and, generally, the coastal regions to the south of
Sydney, together with Berrima, on the tableland; and the third
consists of the mountainous regions on the Great Western railway
and extends as far as
Dubbo. The
total area of the Carboniferous strata of New South Wales is
estimated at 23,950 sq. m. The seams vary in thickness. One of the
richest has been found at Greta in the Hunter river district; it
contains an average thickness of 41 ft. of clean coal, and the
quantity underlying each acre of ground has been computed to be
63,700 tons. The coal mines of New South Wales give employment to
14,000 persons, and the annual production is over 6,600,000 tons.
Black coal has been discovered in Victoria, and about 250,000 tons
are now being raised. The principal collieries in the state are the
Outtrim Howitt, the Coal Creek Proprietary and the Jumbunna. In
South Australia, at Leigh's Creek, north of
Port Augusta, coalbeds have been
discovered. The quantity of coal extracted annually in Australia
had in 1906 reached 7,497,000 tons.
Kerosene shale (torbanite) is found in several parts of New
South Wales. It is a species of cannel coal, somewhat similar to
the Boghead mineral of
Scotland, but yielding a much larger
percentage of volatile hydro-
carbon than the Scottish mineral. The richest
quality yields about 100 to 130 gallons of crude oil per ton, or
17,000 to 18,000 cub. ft. of
gas,
with an illuminating power of 35 to 40 sperm candles, when gas only
is extracted from the shale.
Large deposits of
alum occur
close to the village of Bulladelah, 30 m. from Port Stephens, New
South Wales. It is said to yield well, and a quantity of the
manufactured alum is sent to Sydney for local
consumption.
Marble is found in many parts of
New South Wales and South Australia.
Kaolin, fire-clays and brick-clays are common to
all the states. Except in the vicinity of cities and townships,
however, little use has been made of the abundant deposits of clay.
Kaolin, or
porcelain
clay, although capable of application to commercial purposes, has
not as yet been utilized to any extent, although found in several
places in New South Wales and in Western Australia.
Asbestos has been found
in New South Wales in the Gundagai Bathurst and Broken Hill
districts - in the last-mentioned district in considerable
quantities. Several specimens of very fair quality have also been
met with in Western Australia.
Many descriptions of gems and
gem
stones have been discovered in various parts of the Australian
states, but systematic search has been made principally for the
diamond and the noble
opal.
Diamonds are found in all the states; but only in New South Wales
have any attempts been made to work the diamond drifts. The best of
the New South Wales diamonds are harder and much whiter than the
South African diamonds, and are classified as on a par with the
best Brazilian gems, but no large specimens have yet been found.
The finest opal known is obtained in the Upper Cretaceous formation
at White Cliffs, near Wilcannia, New South Wales, and at these
mines about 700 men find constant employment. Other precious
stones, including the
sapphire,
emerald, oriental emerald,
ruby, opal,
amethyst, garnet,
chrysolite,
topaz,
cairngorm,
onyx,
zircon,
&c., have been found in the gold and tin bearing drifts and
river gravels in numerous localities throughout the states. The
sapphire is found in all the states, principally in the
neighbourhood of
Beechworth, Victoria. The oriental topaz has
been found in New South Wales. Oriental amethysts also have been
found in that state, and the ruby has been found in Queensland, as
well as in New South Wales. Turquoises have been found near
Wangaratta, in Victoria,
and mining operations are being carried on in that state.
Chrysoberyls have been found in New South Wales;
spinel rubies in New South Wales and Victoria;
and white topaz in all the states.
Chalcedony,
carnelian, onyx and cat's eyes are found in
New South Wales; and it is probable that they are also to be met
with in the other states, particularly in Queensland. Zircon,
tourmaline, garnet and
other precious stones of little commercial value are found
throughout Australia.
Commerce
The number of vessels engaged in the over-sea trade of Australia
in 1905 was 2112, viz. 1050 steamers, with a tonnage of 2,629,000,
and 1062 sailers, tonnage 1,090,000; the total of both classes was
3,719,000 tons. The
nationality of the tonnage was, British
2,771,000, including Australian 288,000, and foreign 948,000. The
destination of the shipping was, to British ports 2,360,000 tons,
and to foreign ports 1,350,000 tons. The value of the external
trade was £95,188,000, viz. £38,347,000 imports, and £56,841,000
exports. The imports represent £9:11:6 per inhabitant and the
exports 11 4: 4: 2, with a total trade of L23:15:8. The import
trade is divided between the
United Kingdom
and possessions and foreign countries as follows: - United
Kingdom £23,074,000, British possessions £5,3 8 4, 000, and foreign
states L9,889,000, while the destination of the exports is, United
Kingdom £26,703,000, British possessions £12,519,000, and foreign
countries £17,619,000. The United Kingdom in 1905 sent 60% of the
imports taken by Australia, compared with 26% from foreign
countries, and 14% from British possessions; of Australian imports
the United Kingdom takes 47%, foreign countries 31% and British
possessions 22%. In normal years (that is to say, when there is no
large movement of capital) the exports of Australia exceed the
imports by some £15,300,000. This sum represents the interest
payable on government loans placed outside Australia, mainly in
England, and the income from British and other capital invested in
the country; the former may be estimated at £7,300,000 and the
latter £8,000,000 per annum. The principal items of export are
wool, skins, tallow, frozen mutton, chilled beef, preserved meats,
butter and other articles of pastoral produce, timber, wheat, flour
and fruits, gold, silver, lead, copper, tin and other metals. In
1905 the value of the wool export regained the £20,000,000 level,
and with the rapid recovery of the numerical II. 31 a strength of
the flocks, great improvements in the quality and weight of
fleeces, this
item is likely to
show permanent
advancement. The exports of breadstuffs -
chiefly to the United Kingdom - exceed six millions per annum,
butter two and a half millions, and minerals of all kinds, except
gold, six millions. Gold is exported in large quantities from
Australia. The total gold production of the country is from
£14,500,000 to £16,000,000, and as not more than three-quarters of
a million are required to strengthen existing local
stocks, the balance is usually
available for export, and the average export of the precious metal
during the ten years, 1896-1905, was £12,500,000 per annum. The
chief articles of import are
apparel and textiles, machinery and hardware,
stimulants,
narcotics,
explosives, bags and
sacks, books and paper, oils and
tea.
Lines of steamers connect Australia with London and other
British ports, with
Germany,
Belgium, France,
Italy,
Japan,
China,
India,
San
Francisco,
Vancouver,
New York and Montevideo, several important
lines being subsidized by the countries to which they belong,
notably Germany, France and Japan.
Railways
Almost the whole of the railway lines in Australia are the
property of the state governments, and have been constructed and
equipped wholly by borrowed capital. There were on the 30th of June
1905, 15,000 m. open for traffic, upon which nearly £135,000,000
had been expended.
The railways are of different gauges, the standard narrow
gauge of 4 ft. 82 in. prevailing
only in New South Wales; in Victoria the gauge is 5 ft. 3 in., in
South Australia 5 ft. 3 in. and 3 ft. 6 in., and in the other
states 3 ft. 6 in. Taking the year 1905, the gross earnings
amounted to £11,892,262; the working expenses, exclusive of
interest, £ 7,443,54 6; and the net earnings £4,44 8 ,7 16; the
latter figure represents 3.31% upon the capital expended upon
construction and equipment; in the subsequent year still better
results were obtained. In several of the states, New South Wales
and South Australia proper, the railways yield more than the
interest paid by the government on the money borrowed for their
construction. The earnings per
train-mile vary greatly; but for all the lines
the average is 7s. id., and the working expenses about 4s. 5d.,
making the net earnings 2s. 8d. per train-mile. The ratio of
receipts from coaching traffic to total receipts is about 41%,
which is somewhat less than in the United Kingdom; but the
proportion varies greatly amongst the states themselves, the more
densely populated states approaching most nearly to the British
standard. The tonnage of goods carried amounts to about 16,000,000
tons, or 4 tons per inhabitant, which must be considered fairly
large, especially as no great proportion of the tonnage consists of
minerals on which there is usually a low freightage. Excluding coal
lines and other lines not open to general traffic, the length of
railways in private hands is only 382 m. or about 21% of the total
mileage open. Of this length, 277 in. are in Western Australia. The
divergence of policy of that state from that pursued by the other
states was caused by the inability of the government to construct
lines, when the extension of the railway system was urgently needed
in the interests of settlement. Private enterprise was, therefore,
encouraged by liberal grants of land to undertake the work of
construction; but the changed conditions of the state have now
altered the state policy, and the government have already acquired
one of the two trunk lines constructed by private enterprise, and
it is not likely that any further concessions in regard to railway
construction will be granted to private persons.
Posts and Telegraphs
The postal and telegraphic facilities offered by the various
states are very considerable. There are some 6686 post-offices
throughout the Commonwealth, or about one office to every 600
persons. The letters carried amount to about 80 per head, the
newspapers to 32 per head
and the packets to 15 per head. The length of
telegraph lines in use is 46,300 m., and the
length of wire nearly three times that distance. In 1905 there were
about 1 1,000,000 telegraphic messages sent, which gives an average
of 2.7 messages per inhabitant. The postal services and the
telegraphs are administered by the federal government.
Banking
Depositors in
savings banks represent about twentynine
in every hundred persons, and in 1906 the sum deposited amounted to
£37,205,000 in the names of 1,152,000 persons. In ordinary banks
the deposits amounted to £106,625,000, so that the total deposits
stood at £143,830,000, equivalent to the very large sum of £34,
18s. per inhabitant. The
coin and
bullion held by the banks
varies between 20 and 24 millions sterling and the note circulation
is almost stationary at about 34 millions.
Public Finance.
- Australian public finance requires to be treated under the
separate headings of Commonwealth and states finance. Under the
Constitution Act the Commonwealth is given the control of the
postal and telegraph departments, public defence and several other
services, as well as the power of levying customs and
excise duties; its powers of
taxation are unrestricted,
but so far no taxes Dave been imposed other than those just
mentioned. The Common wealth is empowered to retain one-fourth of
the net revenue from customs and excise, the balance must be handed
back to the states. This arrangement was to last until 1910.
Including the total receipts derived from the customs, the
Commonwealth revenue, during the year 1906, was made up as follows:
Customs and excise £8,999,485 Posts, telegraphs, &c.. 2,824,182
Other revenue 55,676 £11,879,343 The return made to the states was
£7,385,731, so that the actual revenue disposed of by the
Commonwealth was less by that amount, or £4,493,612. The
expenditure was distributed as follows: Customs collection. Posts,
telegraphs, &c. .
|
Commonwealth .
|
|
£11,879,343
|
|
States .
|
.
|
23,820,439
|
|
|
£ 35,699, 782
|
|
Direct taxation
|
|
£ 3,200,000
|
|
Indirect taxation; customs and excise
|
|
8,999,485
|
|
Land revenue .
|
|
3,500,000
|
|
Post-office and telegraphs .
|
|
2,824,182
|
|
Railways, &c. .
|
|
13,650,000
|
|
Other service .
|
|
3,526,115
|
Defence. Other expenditure Total. .. £4,494,841 The states have
the same powers of taxation as the Commonwealth except in regard to
customs and excise, over which the Commonwealth has exclusive
power, but the states are the owners of the crown lands, and the
revenues derived from this source form an important part of their
income. The states have a total revenue, from sources apart from
the Commonwealth, of £23,820,439, and if to this be added the
return of
customs
duties made by the federal government, the total revenue is
£31,206,170. Although the financial operations of the Commonwealth
and the states are quite distinct, a statement of the total revenue
of the Australian Commonwealth and states is not without interest
as showing the weight of taxation and the different sources from
which revenue is obtained. For 1906 the respective revenues were:
The revenue from direct taxation is equal to 15s. iod. per
inhabitant, from indirect taxation £2: 4: 6, and the total revenue
from all sources £35,699,782, equal to £8: 16: 2 per inhabitant.
The federal government has no public debt, but each of the six
states has contracted debts which aggregate £237,000,000, equal to
about £58, 8s. per inhabitant. The bulk of this indebtedness has
been contracted for the purpose of constructing railways, tramways,
water-supplies, and other revenue-producing works and services, and
it is estimated that only 8% of the total indebtedness can be set
down for unproductive services.
Information regarding Australian state finance will be found
under the heading of each state. (T. A. C.) Aborigine S The origin
of the natives of Australia presents a difficult problem. The chief
difficulty in deciding their ethnical relations is their remarkable
physical difference from the neighbouring peoples. And if one turns
from physical criteria to their manners and customs it is only to
find fresh evidence of their isolation. While their neighbours, the
Malays,
Papuans and Polynesians, all cultivate the
soil, and build substantial huts and houses, the Australian natives
do neither. Pottery, common to Malays and Papuans, the bows and
arrows of the latter, and the elaborate canoes of all three races,
are unknown to the Australians. They then must be considered as
representing an extremely primitive type of mankind, and it is
necessary to look far afield for their prehistoric home.
Wherever they came from, there is abundant evidence that their
first occupation of the Australian continent must have been at a
time so remote as to permit of no traditions. No record, no folk
tales, as in the case of the Maoris
origin. of New
Zealand, of their
migration, are preserved by the Australians.
True, there are legends and tales of tribal migrations and early
tribal history, but nothing, as A. W. Howitt points out, which can
be twisted into referring even indirectly to their first arrival.
It is almost incredible there should be none, if the date of their
arrival is to be reckoned as only dating £261,864 2,774,804 949,286
508,887 back some centuries. Again, while they differ physically
from neighbouring races, while there is practically nothing in
common between them and the Malays, the Polynesians, or the Papuan
Melanesians, they agree in type so closely among themselves that
they must be regarded as forming one race. Yet it is noteworthy
that the languages of their several tribes are different. The
occurrence of a large number of common roots proves them to be
derived from one source, but the great variety of dialects -
sometimes unintelligible between tribes separated by only a few
miles - cannot be explained except by supposing a vast period to
have elapsed since their first settlement. There is evidence in the
languages, too, which supports the physical separation from their
New Zealand neighbours and, therefore, from the Polynesian family
of races. The numerals in use were limited. In some tribes there
were only three in use, in most four. For the number " five " a
word meaning " many " was employed. This linguistic poverty proves
that the Australian tongue has no affinity to the Polynesian group
of languages, where denary enumeration prevails: the nearest
Polynesians, the Maoris, counting in thousands. Further evidence of
the antiquity of Australian man is to be found in the strict
observance of tribal boundaries, which would seem to show that the
tribes must have been settled a long time in one place.
A further difficulty is created by a consideration of the
Tasmanian people, extinct since 1876. For the Tasmanians in many
ways closely approximated to the Papuan type. They had coarse,
short, woolly hair and Papuan features. They clearly had no racial
affinities with the Australians. They did not possess the
boomerang or woomerah, and
they had no boats. When they were discovered, a mere raft of reeds
in which they could scarcely venture a mile from shore was their
only means of navigation. Yet while the Tasmanians are so
distinctly separated in physique and customs from the Australians,
the fauna and flora of Tasmania and Australia prove that at one
time the two formed one continent, and it would take an enormous
time for the formation of Bass Strait. How did the Tasmanians with
their Papuan affinities get so far south on a continent inhabited
by a race so differing from Papuans? Did they get to Tasmania
before or after its separation from the main continent? If before,
why were they only found in the south? It would have been
reasonable to expect to find them sporadically all over Australia.
If after, how did they get there at all ? For it is impossible
to accept the theory of one writer that they sailed or rowed round
the continent - a journey requiring enormous maritime skill, which,
according to the theory, they must have promptly lost.
Four points are clear: (i) the Australians represent a distinct
race; (2) they have no kinsfolk among the neighbouring races; (3)
they have occupied the continent for a very long period; (4) it
would seem that the Tasmanians must represent a still earlier
occupation of Australia, perhaps before the Bass Strait
existed.
Several theories have been propounded by ethnologists. An
attempt has been made to show that the Australians have close
affinities with the African negro peoples, and certain resemblances
in language and in customs have been relied on.
Sorcery, the scars raised on the body, the
knocking out of teeth,
circumcision and rules as to marriage have
been quoted; but many such customs are found among
savage peoples far distant from
each other and entirely unrelated. The alleged language.
similarities have broken down on close examination. A. R. Wallace
is of the opinion that the Australians " are really of Caucasian
type and are more nearly allied to ourselves than to the civilized
Japanese or the brave and intelligent Zulus." He finds near kinsmen
for them in the Ainus of Japan, the Khmers and Chams of
Cambodia and among some of
the Micronesian islanders who, in spite of much crossing, still
exhibit marked Caucasic types. He regards the Australians as
representing the lowest and most primitive examples of this
primitive Caucasic type, and he urges that they must have arrived
in Australia at a time when their ancestors had no pottery, knew no
agriculture, domesticated no animals, had no houses and used no
bows and arrows. This theory has been supported by the
investigations of Dr Klaatsch, of the university of
Heidelberg, who would,
however, date Australian ancestry still farther back, for his
studies on the spot have convinced him that the Australians are " a
generalized, not a specialized, type of humanity - that is to say,
they are a very primitive people, with more of the common
undeveloped characteristics of man, and less of the qualities of
the specialized races of civilization." Dr Klaatsch's view is that
they are survivals of a primitive race which inhabited a vast
Antarctic continent of which South America, South Africa and
Australia once formed a part, as evidenced by the identity of many
species of birds and fish. He urges that the similarities of some
of the primitive races of India and Africa to the aborigines of
Australia are indications that they were peopled from one common
stock. This theory, plausible and attractive as it is, and fitting
in, as it does, with the acknowledged primitive character of the
Australian blackfellow, overlooks, nevertheless, the Tasmanian
difficulty. Why should a Papuan type be found in what was certainly
once a portion of the Australian continent? The theory which meets
this difficulty is that which has in its favour the greatest weight
of evidence, viz. that the continent was first inhabited by a
Papuan type of man who made his way thither from
Flores and Timor, New Guinea and the Coral Sea.
That in days so remote as to be undateable, a
Dravidian people driven from their primitive
home in the hills of the Indian
Deccan made their way south via
Ceylon (where they may to-day be
regarded as represented by the Veddahs) and eventually sailed and
drifted in their bark boats to the western and north-western shores
of Australia. It is difficult to believe that they at first arrived
in such numbers as at once to overwhelm the Papuan population.
There were probably several migrations. What seems certain, if this
theory is adopted, is that they did at last accumulate to an extent
which permitted of their mastering the former occupiers of the
soil, who were probably in very scattered and defenceless
communities.
In the slow process of time they drove them into the most
southerly corner of Australia, just as the
Saxons drove the Celts into
Cornwall and the Welsh hills. Even if this
Dravidian invasion is put subsequent to the Bass Strait forming,
even if one allows the probability of much crossing between the two
races at first, in time the hostilities would be renewed. With
their earliest settlements on the north-north-west coasts, the
Dravidians would probably tend to spread out north, north-east and
east, and a southerly line of retreat would be the most natural one
for the Papuans.' When at last they were driven to the Strait they
would
drift over on rafts or in
clumsy shallops; being thereafter left in peace to concentrate
their race, then possibly only in an approximately pure state, in
the island to which the Dravidians would not take the trouble to
follow them, and where they would have centuries in which once more
to fix their racial type and emphasize over again those
differences, perhaps temporarily marred by crossing, which were
found to exist on the arrival of the Whites.
This Indo -
Aryan origin for
the Australian blackfellows is borne out by their physique. In
spite of their savagery they are admitted by those who have studied
them to be far removed from the low or Simian type of man. Dr
Charles Pickering (1805-1878),
who studied the Australians on the spot, writes: 1 In his
Discoveries in Central Australia, E. T. Eyre has
ingeniously attempted to reconstruct the routes taken by the
Australians in their advance across the continent. He has relied,
however, in his efforts to link the tribes together, too much on
the prevalence or absence of such customs as circumcision - always
very treacherous evidences - to allow of his hypothetical
distribution being regarded very seriously. The migrations must
have always been dependent upon physical difficulties, such as
waterless tracts or mountain barriers. They were probably not
definite massed movements, such as would permit of the survival of
distinctive lines of custom between tribe and tribe; but rather
spasmodic movements, sometimes of tribes or of groups, sometimes
only of families or even couples, the first caused by tribal wars,
the second to escape punishment for some offence against tribal
law, such as the
defiance
of the rules as to
clan-marriages.
Strange as it may appear, I would refer to an Australian as the
finest model of the human proportions I have ever met; in muscular
development combining perfect symmetry, activity and strength,
while his head might have compared with the
antique bust of a philosopher." Huxley
concluded, from descriptions, that" the Deccan tribes are
indistinguishable from the Australian races." Sir W. W. Hunter
states that the Dravidian tribes were driven southwards in
Hindustan, and that the grammatical relations of their dialects are
" expressed by suffixes," which is true as to the Australian
languages. He states that
Bishop Caldwell,' whom he calls " the great
missionary scholar of the Dravidian tongue," showed that the south
and western Australian tribes use almost the same words for " I,
thou, he, we, you, as the Dravidian fishermen on the
Madras coast." When in addition
to all this it is found that physically the Dravidians resemble the
Australians; that the boomerang is known among the wild tribes of
the Deccan alone (with the doubtful exception of ancient Egypt) of
all parts of the world except Australia, and that the Australian
canoes are like those of the Dravidian coast tribes, it seems
reasonable enough to assume that the Australian natives are
Dravidians, exiled in remote times from Hindustan, though when
their migration took place and how they traversed the Indian Ocean
must remain questions to which, by their very nature, there can be
no satisfactory answer.
The low stage of culture of the Australians when they reached
their new home is thus accounted for, but their stagnation is
remarkable, because they must have been frequently in contact with
more civilized peoples. In the north of Australia there are traces
of Malay and Papuan blood. That a far more advanced race had at one
time a settlement on the north-west coast is indicated by the
cave-paintings and sculptures
discovered by
Sir George Grey. In caves of the valley
of the Glenelg river, north-west Australia, about 60 m. inland and
20 m. south of Prince Regent's river, are representations of human
heads and bodies, apparently of females clothed to the armpits, but
all the faces are without any indication of mouths. The heads are
surrounded with a kind of head-
dress or
halo
and one wears a necklace. They are drawn in red, blue and yellow.
The figures are almost life-size. Rough sculptures, too, were
found, and two large square mounds formed of loose stones, and yet
perfect parallelograms in outline, placed due east and west. In the
same district Sir George Grey noticed among the blackfellows people
he describes as " almost white." On the Gascoyne river, too, were
seen natives of an
olive colour,
quite good-looking; and in the neighbourhood of Sydney
rock-carvings have been also found. All this points to a temporary
occupation by a race at a far higher stage of culture than any
known Australians, who were certainly never capable of executing
even the crude works of art described.
Physically the typical Australian is the equal of the average
European in height, but is inferior in muscular development,. the
legs and arms being of a leanness which is often emphasized by an
abnormal
corpulence.
The bones are delicately formed, and there is the lack of
calf usual in black races. The
skull is abnormally thick and the
cerebral capacity small. The head is long and somewhat narrow, the
forehead broad and receding, with overhanging brows, the eyes
sunken, large and black, the nose thick and very broad at the
nostrils. The mouth is large and the lips thick but not
protuberant. The teeth are large, white and strong. In old age they
appear much ground down; particularly is this the case with women,
who chew the different kinds of
fibres, of which they make nets and bags. The
lower
jaw is heavy; the cheekbones
somewhat high, and the chin small and receding. The neck is thicker
and shorter than that of most Europeans. The colour of the skin is
a deep copper or
chocolate, never sooty black. When born, the
Australian baby is of 'a much` lighter colour than its parents and
remains so for about a week. The hair is long, black or very dark
auburn, wavy and sometimes
curly, but never woolly, and the men have luxuriant beards and
whiskers, often of an auburn tint, while the whole body inclines to
hairiness. On
1 The Languages of India (1875). the Balonne
river, Queensland, Baron Mikluho Maclay found a group of hairless
natives. The head hair is usually matted with grease and dirt, but
when clean is fine and glossy. The skin gives out an objectionable
odour, owing to the habit of
anointing the body with fish-oils, but the
true fetor of the negro is lacking in the Australian. The voices of
the blackfellows are musical. Their mental faculties, though
inferior to those of the Polynesian race, are not contemptible.
They have much acuteness of
perception for the relations of individual
objects, but little power of generalization. No word exists in
their language for such general terms as tree, bird or fish; yet
they have invented a name for every species of
vegetable and animal they know. The
grammatical structure of some north Australian languages has a
considerable degree of refinement. The verb presents a variety of
conjugations, expressing nearly all the moods and tenses of the
Greek. There is a dual, as well as a plural form in the declension
of verbs, nouns, pronouns and adjectives. The distinction of
genders is not marked, except in proper names of men and women. All
parts of speech, except adverbs, are declined by terminational
inflections. There are words for the elementary numbers, one, two,
three; but " four " is usually expressed by " two-two." They have
no idea of decimals. The number and diversity of separate languages
is bewildering.
In disposition the Australians are a bright,
laughter-loving folk, but they are
treacherous, untruthful and hold human life cheaply. They have no
great physical courage. They are mentally in the condition of
children. None of them has an idea of what the West calls morality,
except the simple one of right or wrong arising out of property. A
wife will be beaten without
mercy for unfaithfulness to her husband, but the
same wife will have had to submit to the first-night promiscuity, a
widespread revel which Roth shows is a regular custom in
north-west-central Queensland. A husband claims his wife as his
absolute property, but he has no
scruple in handing her over for a time to
another man. There is, however, no proof that anything like
community of women or unlimited promiscuity exists anywhere. It
would be wrong, however, to conclude that moral considerations have
led up to this state of things. Of sexual morality, in the everyday
sense of the word, there is none. In his treatment of women the
aboriginal may be ranked lower than even the Fuegians. Yet the
Australian is capable of strong affections, and the blind (of whom
there have always been a great number) are cared for, and are often
the best fed in a tribe.
The Australians when first discovered were found to be living in
almost a prehistoric simplicity. Their food was the
meat they killed in the chase, or seeds and roots,
grubs or reptiles. They never, in any situation, cultivated the
soil for any kind of food-
crop.
They never reared any kind of cattle, or kept any domesticated
animal except the dog, which probably came over with them in their
canoes. They nowhere built permanent dwellings, but contented
themselves with mere hovels for temporary shelter. They neither
manufactured nor possessed any chattels beyond such articles of
clothing, weapons, ornaments and utensils as they might carry on
their persons, or in the family
store-bag for daily use. In most districts both
sexes are entirely nude. Sometimes in the south during the cold
season they wear a cloak of skin or
matting, fastened 'with a skewer, but open on
the right-hand side.
When going through the bush they sometimes wear an
apron of skins, for protection
merely. No headgear is worn, except sometimes a net to confine the
hair, a bunch of feathers, or the tails of small animals. The
breast or back, of both sexes, is
usually tattooed, or rather, scored with rows of hideous raised
scars, produced by deep gashes made at
puberty. Their dwellings for the most part are
either bowers, formed of the branches of trees, or hovels of piled
logs, loosely covered with grass or bark, which they can erect in
an hour, wherever they encamp. But some huts of a more substantial
form were seen by Captain
Matthew Flinders on the south-east
coast in 1799, and by Captain King and Sir T. Mitchell on the
north-east, where they no longer appear. The ingenuity of the race
is mostly exhibited in the manufacture of their weapons of warfare
and the chase. While the use of the
bow and arrow does not seem to have occurred to
them, the
spear and
axe are in general use, commonly made
of hard-wood; the hatchets of stone, and the javelins pointed' with
stone or
bone. The characteristic
weapon of the Australian is
the
boomerang. Their
nets, made by women, either of the tendons of animals or the fibres
of plants, will catch and hold the kangaroo or the emu, or the very
large fish of Australian rivers. Canoes of bent bark, for the
inland waters, are hastily prepared at need; but the inlets and
straits of the north-eastern sea-coast are navigated by larger
canoes and rafts of a better construction. As to food, they are
omnivorous. In central Queensland and elsewhere, snakes, both
venomous and harmless, are eaten, the head being first carefully
smashed to pulp with a stone.
The tribal organization of the Australians was based on that of
the family. There were no hereditary or formally elected chiefs,
nor was there any vestige of monarchy. The affairs of a tribe were
ruled by a council of men past middle age. Each tribe occupied a
recognized territory, averaging perhaps a dozen square miles, and
used a common
dialect. This
district was subdivided between the chief heads of families. Each
family, or family group, had a dual organization which has been
termed (i) the Social, (2) the Local. The first was matriarchal,
inheritance being
reckoned through the mother. No territorial association was needed.
All belonged to the same totem or totemic class, and might be
scattered throughout the tribe, though subject to the same marriage
laws. The second was patriarchal and of a strictly territorial
nature. A family or group of families had the same
hunting-ground, which was
seldom changed, and descended through the males. Thus, the sons
inherited their fathers' hunting-ground, but bore their mothers'
name and therewith the right to certain women for wives. The Social
or matriarchal took
precedence of the Local or patriarchal
organization. In many cases it arranged the assemblies and
ceremonial of the tribe; it regulated marriage, descent and
relationship; it ordered blood feuds, it prescribed the rites of
hospitality and so on. Nevertheless the Local side of tribal life
in time tended to overwhelm the Social and to organize the tribe
irrespective of matriarchy, and inclined towards hereditary
chieftainship.
The most intricate and stringent rules existed as to marriage
within and without the totemic inter-marrying classes. There is
said to be but one exception to the rule that marriage must be
contracted outside the totem name. This exception was discovered by
Messrs Spencer and Gillen among the Arunta of central Australia,
some allied septs, and their nearest neighbours to the north, the
Kaitish. This tribe may legally marry within the totem, but always
avoids such unions. Even in casual amours these class laws were
invariably observed, and the young man or woman who defied them was
punished, he with death, she with spearing or beating. At the death
of a man, his widows passed to his brother of the same totem class.
Such a system gave to the elder men of a tribe a predominant
position, and generally respect was shown to the aged. Laws and
penalties in protection of property were enforced by the tribe.
Thus, among some tribes of Western Australia the
penalty for abducting another's wife was to
stand with
leg extended while each
male of the tribe stuck his spear into it. Laws, however, did not
protect the women, who were the mere chattels of their lords.
Stringent rules, too, governed the food of women and the youth of
both sexes, and it was only after
initiation that boys were allowed to eat of
all the game the forest provided. In every case of death from
disease or unknown causes sorcery was suspected and an
inquest held, at which the
corpse was asked by each relative
in succession the name of the murderer. This formality having been
gone through, the flight of the first bird which passed over the
body was watched, the direction being regarded as that in which the
sorcerer must be sought. Sometimes the nearest relative sleeps with
his head on the corpse, in the belief that he will
dream of the murderer. The most sacred duty an
Australian had to perform was the avenging of the death of a
kinsman, and he was the object of constant taunts and insults till
he had done so.
Cannibalism was almost universal, either in
the case of enemies killed in battle or when animal food was
scarce. In the Luritcha tribe it was customary when a child was in
weak health to kill a younger and healthy one and feed the weakling
on its flesh. Cannibalism seems also to have sometimes been in the
nature of a funeral observance, in honour of the deceased, of whom
the relatives reverently
ate
portions. They had no special forms of religious worship, and no
idols. The evidence on the question of whether they believed in a
Supreme Being is very contradictory. Messrs Spencer and Gillen
appear to think that such rudimentary idea of an All-Father as has,
it is thought, been detected among the blackfellows is an exotic
growth fostered by contact with missionaries. A. W. Howitt and Dr
Roth appear to have satisfied themselves of a belief, common to
most tribes, in a mythic being (he has different names in different
tribes) having some of the attributes of a Supreme Deity. But Mr
Howitt finds in this being " no trace of a divine nature, though
under favourable conditions the beliefs might have developed into
an actual religion." Other authorities suggest that it is going
much too far to deny the existence of religion altogether, and
instance as proof of the divinity of the supra-normal
anthropomorphic beings of the Baiame class, the fact that the Yuin
and cognate tribes
dance around
the
image of Daramulun (their
equivalent of Baiame) and the
medicine men " invocate his name." A good deal
perhaps depends on each observer's view of what religion really is.
The Australians believed in
spirits, generally of an evil nature, and had
vague notions of an after-life. The only idea of a god known to be
entertained by them seems to be that of the Euahlayi and Kamilaori
tribe, Baiame, a gigantic old man lying asleep for ages, with his
head resting on his arm, which is deep in the sand. He is expected
one day to awake and eat up the world. Researches go to show that
Baiame has his counterpart in other tribes, the myth varying
greatly in detail. But the Australians are distinguished by
possessing elaborate initiatory ceremonies. Circumcision of one or
two kinds was usual in the north and south, but not in Western
Australia or on the Murray river. In South Australia boys had to
undergo three stages of initiation in a place which women were
forbidden to approach. At about ten they were covered with blood
from head to foot, several elder men bleeding themselves for the
purpose. At about twelve or fourteen circumcision took place and
(or sometimes as an alternative on the east coast) a front tooth
was knocked out, to the
accompaniment of the booming of the
bullroarer. At the age of
puberty the lad was tattooed or scarred with gashes cut in back,
shoulders, arms and
chest, and
the septum of the nose was pierced. The gashes varied in patterns
for the different tribes. Girls, too, were scarred at puberty and
had teeth knocked out, &c. The ceremonies - known to the Whites
under the native generic term for initiatory rites,
Bora - were much the same
throughout Australia.
Polygamy was rare, due possibly to the
scarcity of women.'
Infanticide was universally recognized. The
mode of disposing of the dead varied. Among some tribes a circular
grave was dug and the body placed in it with its face towards the
east, and a high mound covered with bark or
thatch raised over it. In New South Wales the
body is often burned and the ashes buried. On the Lower Murray the
body is placed on a
platform of sticks and left to decay. Young
children are often not buried for months, but are carried about by
their mothers. At the funeral of men there is much
mourning, the female
relatives cutting or tearing their hair off and plastering their
faces with clay, but for women no public ceremonies took place.
The numbers of the native Australians are steadily diminishing.
It was estimated that when first visited by Europeans the native 1
The existence of " Group Marriage " is a much-controverted point.
This custom, which has been defined as the invasion of actual
marriage by allotting permanent paramours, is confined to a special
set of tribes.
population did not much exceed 200,000. A remnant of the race
exists in each of the provinces, while a few tribes still wander
over the interior.
Authorities
- Dr A. W. Howitt,
The Native Tribes of South-east
Australia (1904) and
On the Organization of Australian
Tribes (1889); G. T. Bettany,
The Red, Brown and Black Men
of Australia (1890); B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen,
Native
Tribes of Central Australia (1899)
The Northern Tribes of
Central Australia (London, 1904); E. M. Curr,
The
Australian Race (3 vols.,1886-1887); G. W. Rusden,
History
of Australia (1897);
Australasia, British Empire
Series (Kegan
Paul & Co.,
1900); A. R. Wallace,
Australasia (1880, new ed., 2 vols.,
1893-1895); Rev. Lorimer Fison and Dr A. W. Howitt,
Kamilaroi
and Kurnai, Group Marriage and Relationship (Melbourne, 1880);
H.
Ling Roth,
Queensland
Aborigines (Brisbane, 1897); Carl Lumholtz,
Among
Cannibals (1889); Walter E. Roth,
Ethnological Studies
among the North-west-central Queensland Aborigines (London,
1897); Mrs K. Langloh Parker,
Euahlayi Tribes (1905); F.
J. Gillen,
Notes on Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of
the Macdonnell Ranges belonging to the Arunta Tribe; J. E.
Frazer, " The Beginnings of Religion and
Totemism among the Australian Aborigines,"
Fortnightly Review, July 1905; N. W.
Thomas,
Native Tribes of Australia
(1907). (C. AR.) [[History
I]]. The Discovery of
Australia. It is impossible to say who were the first
discoverers of Australia, although there is evidence that the
Chinese had some knowledge of the continent so far back as the 13th
century. The Malays, also, would seem to have been acquainted with
the northern coast; while
Marco Polo, who visited the East at the
close of the 13th century, makes reference to the reputed existence
of a great southern continent. There is in existence a map,
dedicated to
Henry VIII. of England, on which
a large southern land is shown, and the tradition of a Terra
Australis appears to have been current for a long period before it
enters into
authentic
history.
In 1503 a French navigator named Binot Paulmyer, sieur de
Gonneville, was blown out of his course, and landed on a large
island, which was claimed to be the great southern land of
tradition, although Flinders and other authorities are inclined to
think that it must have been
Madagascar. Some French authorities
confidently put forward a claim that Guillaume le Testu, of
Provence, sighted the
continent in 1531. The Portuguese also advance claims to be the
first discoverers of Australia, but so far the evidence cannot be
said to establish their pretensions. As early as 1597 the Dutch
historian, Wytfliet, describes the Australis Terra as the most
southern of all lands, and proceeds to give some circumstantial
particulars respecting its geographical relation to New Guinea,
venturing the opinion that, were it thoroughly explored, it would
be regarded as a fifth part of the world.
Early in the 17th century
Philip III. of Spain sent out an expedition
from
Callao, in
Peru, for the purpose of searching
for a southern continent. The little fleet comprised three vessels,
with the Portuguese
pilot, De
Quiros, as navigator, and De Torres as
admiral or military commander. They left Callao
on the 21st of December 1605, and in the following year discovered
the island now known as Espiritu Santo, one of the
New Hebrides group,
which De Quiros, under the impression that it was indeed the land
of which he was in search, named
La Austrialia del Espiritu
Santo. Sickness and discontent led to a
mutiny on De Quiros' vessel, and the
crew, overpowering their officers
during the night, forced the captain to navigate his ship to
Mexico. Thus, abandoned by his
consort, De Torres, compelled
to bear up for the Philippines to refit, discovered and sailed
through the strait that bears his name, and may even have caught a
glimpse of the northern coast of the Australian continent. His
discovery was not, however, made known until 1792, when Dalrymple
rescued his name from oblivion, bestowing it upon the passage which
separates New Guinea from Australia. De Quiros returned to Spain to
re-engage in the work of petitioning the king to despatch an
expedition for the purpose of prosecuting the discovery of the
Terra Australis. He was finally successful in his petitions, but
died before accomplishing his work, and was buried in an unknown
grave in
Panama, never being
privileged to set his foot upon the continent the discovery of
which was the inspiration of his life. During the same year in
which De Torres sailed through the strait destined to make him
famous, a little Dutch vessel called the " Duyfken," or "
Dove," set
sail from
Bantam, in
Java, on a voyage of discovery. This ship entered
the Gulf of Carpentaria, and sailed south as far as Cape Keerweer,
or Turn-again. Here some of the crew landed, but, being attacked by
natives, made no attempt to explore the country. In 1616
Dirk Hartog discovered the island
bearing his name. In 1622 the " Leeuwin," or " Lioness," made some
discoveries on the south-west coast; and during the following year
the yachts " Pera " and " Arnheim " explored the shores of the Gulf
of Carpentaria. Arnheim Land, a portion of the Northern Territory,
still appears on many maps as a memento of this voyage. Among other
early Dutch discoverers were Edel;
Pool, in 1629, in the Guif of Carpentaria; Nuyts,
in the " Gulde Zeepaard," along the southern coast, which he
called, after himself, Nuyts Land; De Witt; and Pelsaert, in the "
Batavia." Pelsaert was wrecked on Houtman's Abrolhos; his crew
mutinied, and he and his party suffered greatly from want of water.
The record of his voyage is interesting from the fact that he was
the first to carry back to Europe an authentic account of the
western coast of Australia, which he described in any but
favourable terms. It is to Dutch navigators in the early portion of
the 17th century that we owe the first really authentic accounts of
the western coast and adjacent islands, and in many instances the
names given by these mariners to prominent physical features are
still retained. By 1665 the Dutch possessed rough charts of almost
the whole of the western littoral, while to the mainland itself
they had given the name of New
Holland. Of the Dutch discoverers, Pelsaert was
the only one who made any detailed observations of the character of
the country inland, and it may here be remarked that his journal
contains the first notice and description of the kangaroo that has
come down to us.
In 1642
Abel Janszoon Tasman sailed on a
voyage of discovery from Batavia, the headquarters of the governor
and council of the
Dutch East
Indies, under whose auspices the expedition was undertaken. He
was furnished with a yacht, the " Heemskirk," and a fly-boat, the "
Zeehaen " (or " Sea
Hen "), under
the command of Captain Jerrit Jansen. He left Batavia on what has
been designated by Dutch historians the " Happy Voyage," on the
14th of August 1642. After a visit to the
Mauritius, then a Dutch possession, Tasman
bore away to the south-east, and on the 24th of November sighted
the western coast of the land which he named Van Diemen's Land, in
honour of the governor under whose directions he was acting. The
honour was later transferred to the discoverer himself, and the
island is now known as Tasmania. Tasman doubled the southern
extremity of Van Diemen's Land and explored the east coast for some
distance. The ceremony of hoisting a
flag and taking possession of the country in the
name of the government of the
Netherlands was actually performed, but the
description of the wildness of the country, and of the fabulous
giants by which Tasman's sailors believed it to be inhabited,
deterred the Dutch from occupying the island, and by the
international principle of " non-user " it passed from their hands.
Resuming his voyage in an easterly direction, Tasman sighted the
west coast of the South Island of New Zealand on the 13th of
December of the same year, and describes the coast-line as
consisting of " high mountainous country." The first English
navigator to sight the Australian continent was
William
Dampier, who made a visit to these shores in 1688, as
supercargo of the "
Cygnet," a trader whose crew had turned
buccaneers. On his return to England he
published an account of his voyage, which resulted in his being
sent out in the " Roebuck " in 1699 to prosecute his discoveries
further. To him we owe the exploration of the coast for about goo
m. - from Shark's Bay to Dampier's Archipelago, and thence to
Roebuck Bay. He appears to have landed in several places in search
of water. His account of the country was quite as unfavourable as
Pelsaert's. He described it as barren and sterile, and almost
devoid of animals, the only one of any importance somewhat
resembling a
raccoon - a
strange creature, which advanced by great bounds or leaps instead
of walking, using only its hind legs, and covering 12 or 15 ft. at
a time. The reference is, of course, to the kangaroo, which
Pelsaert had also remarked and quaintly described some sixty years
previously.
During the interval elapsing between Dampier's two voyages, an
accident led to the closer
examination of the coasts of Western Australia by the Dutch. In
1684 a vessel had sailed from Holland for the Dutch possessions in
the East
Indies, and after
rounding the Cape of Good Hope, she was never again heard of. Some
twelve years afterwards the
East India Company fitted out an
expedition under the leadership of Commander William de Vlamingh,
with the object of searching for any traces of the lost vessel on
the western shores of New Holland. Towards the close of the year
1696 this expedition reached the island of Rottnest, which was
thoroughly explored, and early the following year a landing party
discovered and named the Swan river. The vessels then proceeded
northward without finding any traces of the object of their search,
but, at the same time, making fairly accurate charts of the
coast-line.
The great voyage of Captain
James Cook, in 1769-1770, was primarily
undertaken for the purposes of observing the transit. of
Venus, but he was also expressly
commissioned
coox to ascertain " whether the
unexplored part of the southern hemisphere be only an immense mass
of water, or contain another continent." H.M.S. " Endeavour," the
vessel fitted out for the voyage, was a small craft of 370 tons,
carrying twenty-two guns, and built originally for a collier, with
a view rather to strength than to speed. Chosen by
Cook himself, she was renamed the " Endeavour," in
allusion to the great work which her commander was setting out to
achieve. Mr Charles Green was commissioned to conduct the
astronomical observations, and
Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Solander were
appointed botanists to the expedition. After successfully observing
the transit from the island of
Tahiti, or Otaheite, as Cook wrote it, the "
Endeavour's " head was turned south, and then north-west, beating
about the Pacific in search of the eastern coast of the great
continent whose western shores had been so long known to the Dutch.
On the 6th of October 1769 the coast of New Zealand was sighted,
and two days later Cook cast
anchor in Poverty Bay, so named from the
inhospitality and hostility of the natives.
After voyaging westward for nearly three weeks, Cook, on the
19th of April 1770, sighted the eastern coast of Australia at a
point which he named after his lieutenant, who discovered it, Point
Hicks, and which modern geographers identify with Cape Everard.
The " Endeavour " then coasted northward, and after passing and
naming Mount
Dromedary,
the
Pigeon House, Point
Upright, Cape St
George and
Red Point,
Botany Bay
was discovered on the 28th of April 1770, and as it appeared to
offer a suitable anchorage, the " Endeavour " entered the bay and
dropped anchor. The ship brought-to opposite a group of natives,
who were cooking over a fire. The great navigator and his crew,
unacquainted with the character of the Australian aborigines, were
not a little astonished that these natives took no notice of them
or their proceedings. Even the splash of the anchor in the water,
and the
noise of the
cable running out through the
hawse-hole, in no way disturbed them at their occupation, or caused
them to evince the slightest curiosity. But as the captain of the "
Endeavour " ordered out the
pinnace and prepared to land, the natives threw
off their nonchalance; for on the boat approaching the shore, two
men, each armed with a bundle of spears, presented themselves on a
projecting rock and made threatening signs to the strangers. It is
interesting to note that the ingenious
wommera, or
throw-stick, which is peculiar to Australia, was first observed on
this occasion. As the men were evidently determined to oppose any
attempt at landing, a
musket
was discharged between them, in the hope that they would be
frightened by the noise, but it produced no effect beyond causing
one of them to drop his bundle of spears, of which, however, he
immediately repossessed himself, and with his comrade resumed the
same menacing attitude. At last one cast a stone towards the boat,
which earned him a charge of small shot in the leg. Nothing
daunted, the two ran back into the bush, and presently returned
furnished with shields made of bark, with which to protect
themselves from the firearms of the crew. Such intrepidity is
certainly worthy of passing notice. Unlike the American Indians,
who supposed
Columbus and
his crew to be supernatural beings, and their ships in some way
endowed with life, and were thrown into
convulsions of terror by the first
discharge of firearms which they witnessed, these Australians were
neither excited to wonder by the ship nor overawed by the superior
number and unknown weapons of the strangers. Cook examined the bay
in the pinnace, and landed several times; but by no endeavour could
he induce the natives to hold any friendly communication with him.
The well-known circumstance of the great variety of new plants here
obtained, from which Botany Bay derives its name, should not be
passed over. Before quitting the bay the ceremony was performed of
hoisting the Union Jack, first on the south shore, and then near
the north head, formal possession of the territory being thus taken
for the British crown. During the sojourn in Botany Bay the crew
had to perform the painful duty of burying a comrade - a seaman
named Forby Sutherland, who was in all probability the first
British subject whose body was committed to Australian soil.
After leaving Botany Bay, Cook sailed northward. He saw and
named Port Jackson, but forbore to enter the finest natural harbour
in Australia. Broken Bay and other inlets, and several headlands,
were also seen and named, but the vessel did not come to an anchor
till Moreton Bay was reached, although the wind prevented Cook from
entering this harbour. Still sailing northward, taking notes as he
proceeded for a rough
chart of
the coast, and landing at
Bustard and Keppel Bays and the Bay of Inlets,
Cook passed over 1300 m. without the occurrence of any event worthy
of being chronicled, till suddenly one night at ten o'clock the
water was found to shoal, without any sign of breakers or land.
While Cook was speculating on the cause of this
phenomenon, and was in
the act of ordering out the boats to take soundings, the "
Endeavour " struck heavily, and fell over so much that the guns,
spare cables, and other heavy
gear
had at once to be thrown overboard to lighten the ship. As day
broke, attempts were made to float the vessel off with the morning
tide; but these were unsuccessful. The water was rising so rapidly
in the hold that with four pumps constantly going the crew could
hardly keep it in check. At length one of the midshipmen suggested
the
device of " fothering,"
which he had seen practised in the West Indies. This consists of
passing a sail, attached to cords, and charged with
oakum, wool, and other materials,
under the vessel's
keel, in such a
manner that the suction of the leak may draw the
canvas into the
aperture, and thus partially stop the vent.
This was performed with great success, and the vessel was floated
off with the evening tide. The land was soon after made near the
mouth of a small stream, which Cook called, after the ship, the
Endeavour river. A headland close by he named Cape Tribulation. The
ship was steered into the river, and there careened and thoroughly
repaired. Cook having completed the survey of the east coast, to
which he gave the name of New South Wales, sighted and named Cape
York, the northernmost point of Australia, and took final
possession of his discoveries northward from 38° S. to 102° S., on
a spot which he named Possession Island, thence returning to
England by way of Torres Straits and the Indian Ocean.
The great navigator's second voyage, undertaken in 1772, with
the "
Resolution " and
the "
Adventure," is of
less importance. The vessels became separated, and both at
different times visited New Zealand. Captain
Tobias
Furneaux, in the " Adventure," also found his way to
Storm Bay in Tasmania. In 1777,
while on his way to search for a north-east passage between the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans,
Cook again touched at the coast of Tasmania and New Zealand.
On his first voyage, in 1770, Cook had some grounds for the
belief that Van Diemen's Land, as Tasmania was then called, was a
separate island. The observations of Captain Furneaux, however, did
not strengthen this belief, and when making his final voyage, the
great navigator appears to have definitely concluded that it was
part of the mainland of Australia. This continued to be the opinion
of geographers until 1798, when Bass discovered the strait which
bears his name. The next recorded expedition is a memorable one in
the annals of Australian history - the despatch of a British colony
to the shores of Botany Bay. The fleet sailed in May 1787, and
arrived off the Australian coast early in the following
January.
2. Inland Exploration. For a period of twenty-five
years after the first establishment of a British settlement in
Australia, the colonists were only acquainted with the country
along the coast extending northwards about 70 m. from Sydney and
about a like distance to the south and shut in to the west by the
Blue Mountain range, forming a narrow strip not more than 50 m.
wide at its broadest part.
The Blue Mountains attain a height of between 3000 and 4000 ft.
only, but they are intersected with precipitous ravines 1500 ft.
deep, which baffled every effort to reach the interior until in
1813, when a summer of severe drought had made it of vital
importance to find new pastures, three of the colonists, Messrs
Blaxland, Lawson and
Wentworth, more fortunate than their
predecessors in exploration, after crossing the Nepean river at Emu
Plains and ascending the Dividing Range, were able to reach a
position enabling them to obtain a view of the grassy valley of the
Fish river, which lies on the farther side of the Dividing Range.
The western descent of the mountains appeared to the explorers
comparatively easy, and they returned to report their discovery. A
line of road was constructed across the mountains as far as the
Macquarie river by the surveyor, Mr Evans, and the town of Bathurst
laid out. This marks the beginning of the occupation of the
interior of the continent. Some small expeditions were made from
Bathurst, resulting in the discovery of the Lachlan, and in 1816
the first of the great exploration expeditions of Australia was
fitted out under Lieutenant Oxley, R.N. Oxley was accompanied
Oxley. by Mr Evans and Mr
Allan
Cunningham the botanist, and the object of his expedition was
to trace the course of the Lachlan in a
westerly direction. Oxley traced the river
until it lost itself in the swamps east of 147° E., then crossing
the river he traversed the country between the Lachlan and
Murrumbidgee as far as 34° S. and 144° 30
E. On
his return journey Oxley again crossed the Lachlan about 160 m.,
measured along the river, below the point where he left it on his
journey south. Continuing in a north-easterly direction Oxley
struck the Macquarie river at a place he called
Wellington, and from this
place in the following year he organized a second expedition in
hopes of discovering an inland sea. He was, however, disappointed
in this, as after descending the course of the Macquarie below
Mount Harris, he found that the river ended in an immense swamp
overgrown with reeds. Oxley now turned aside - led by Mr Evans's
report of the country eastward - crossed the Arbuthnot range, and
traversing the Liverpool Plains, and ascending the
Peel and Cockburn rivers to the Blue Mountains,
gained sight of the open sea, which he reached at Port Macquarie. A
valuable extension of geographical knowledge had been gained by
this circuitous journey of more than Boo m. Yet its result was a
disappointment to those who had looked for means of inland
navigation by the Macquarie river, and by its supposed issue in a
mediterranean sea.
During the next two
or three years public
attention was occupied with Captain King's maritime explorations of
the north-west coast in three successive voyages, and by
explorations of Western Australia in 1821. These steps were
followed by the foundation of a settlement on Melville Island, in
the extreme north, which, however, was soon abandoned. In 1823
Lieutenant Oxley proceeded to Moreton Bay and Port Curtis, the
first place 500 m., the other 690 m. north of Sydney, to choose the
site of a new penal establishment. From a shipwrecked English
sailor he met with, who had lived with the savages, he heard of the
river Brisbane. About the same time, in the opposite direction,
south-west of Sydney, a large extent of the interior was revealed.
Messrs
Hamilton Hume and
Hovell set out from
Lake
George, crossed the Murrumbidgee, and, after following the
river for a short distance, struck south, skirting the foothills of
what are now known as the Australian Alps until they reached a fine
river, which was called the Hume after the leader's father.
Crossing the Murray at Albury, the explorers, bearing to the
south-west, skirted the western shore of Port
Philip and reached the sea-coast near where the
town of Geelong now stands. In 1827 and the two following years,
Cunningham prosecuted
instructive explorations on both sides of the Liverpool range,
between the upper waters of the Hunter and those of the Peel and
other tributaries of the Brisbane north of New South Wales. Some of
his discoveries, including those of Pandora's Pass and the Darling
Downs, were of great practical utility.
By this time much had thus been done to obtain an acquaintance
with the eastern parts of the Australian continent, although the
problem of what could become of the large rivers flowing north-west
and south-west into the interior was still unsolved. With a view to
determine this question, Governor Sir Ralph Darling, in the year
1828, sent out the expedition under Captain
Charles Sturt, who,
proceeding first to the marshes at the end of the Macquarie river,
found his progress checked by the dense mass of reeds in that
quarter. He therefore turned westward, and struck a large river,
with many affluents, to which he gave the name of the Darling. This
river, flowing from north-east to south-west, drains the marshes in
which the Macquarie and other streams from the south appeared to be
lost. The course of the Murrumbidgee, a deep and rapid river, was
followed by the same eminent explorer in his second expedition in
1831 with a more satisfactory result. He travelled on this occasion
nearly 2000 m., and discovered that both the Murrumbidgee, carrying
with it the waters of the Lachlan morass, and likewise the Darling,
from a more northerly region, finally joined another and larger
river. This stream, the Murray, in the upper part of its course
runs in a north-westerly direction, but afterwards turning
southwards, almost at a right angle, expands into Lake Alexandrina
on the south coast, about 60 m. south-east of the town of Adelaide,
and finally enters the sea at Encounter Bay in E. long. 139°
gaining a practical solution of the problem of the destination of
the westward-flowing rivers,
Sir Thomas Mitchell, in
1833, led an expedition northward to the upper branches of the
Darling; the party met with a sad disaster in the death of Richard
Cunningham, brother of the eminent botanist, who was murdered by
the blacks near the Bogan river. The expedition reached the Darling
on the 25th of May 1833, and after establishing a
depot at Fort Bourke, Mitchell traced the Darling
southwards for 300 m. until he was certain the river was identical
with that reported by Sturt as joining the Murray about 142° E.
Meantime, from the new colony of Adelaide, South Australia, on
the shores of Gulf St Vincent, a series of adventurous journeys to
the north and to the west was begun by Mr Eyre, who explored a
country very difficult of access. In 1840 he performed a feat of
extraordinary personal daring, travelling all the way along the
barren sea-coast of the Great Australian Bight, from Spencer Gulf
to King George Sound. Eyre also explored the interior north of the
head of Spencer Gulf, where he was misled, however, by appearances
to form an erroneous theory about the water-surfaces named Lake
Torrens. It was left to the
veteran explorer, Sturt, to achieve the arduous
enterprise of penetrating from the Darling northward to the very
centre of the continent. This was in 1845, the route lying for the
most part over a stony desert, where the heat (reaching 131°
Fahr.), with scorching winds, caused much suffering to the party.
The most northerly point reached by Sturt on this occasion was
about S. lat. 24° 25'.
Mitchell. A military station having been fixed by the
British government at Port Victoria, on the coast of Arnheim Land,
for the protection of shipwrecked mariners on the north coast, it
was thought desirable to find an overland route between this
settlement and Moreton Bay, in what then was the northern portion
of New South Wales, now called Queensland. This was the object of
Dr Leichhardt's expedition in 1844, which proceeded first along the
banks of the Dawson and the
Mackenzie, tributaries of the Fitzroy river,
in Queensland. It thence passed farther north to the Burdekin,
ascending to the source of that river, and turned westward across a
table-land, from which there was an easy descent to the Gulf of
Carpentaria. Skirting the low shores of this gulf, all the way
round its upper half to the Roper, Leichhardt crossed Arnheim Land
to the Alligator river, which he descended to the western shore of
the peninsula, and arrived at Port Victoria, otherwise Port
Essington, after a journey of 3000 m., performed within a year and
three months. In 1847 Leichhardt undertook a much more formidable
task, that of crossing the entire continent from east to west. His
starting-point was on the Fitzroy Downs, north of the river
Condamine, in Queensland, between the 26th and 27th degrees of S.
latitude. But this eminent explorer had not proceeded far into the
interior before he met his death, his last despatch dating from the
Cogoon, 3rd of April 1848. In the same region, from 1845 to 1847,
Sir Thomas Mitchell and Mr E. B.
Kennedy explored the northern tributaries of
the Darling, and a river in S. lat. 24°, named the Barcoo or
Victoria, which flows to the south-west. This river was more
thoroughly examined by Mr A. C. Gregory in 1858. Mr Kennedy lost
his life in 1848, being killed by the natives while attempting to
explore the peninsula of Cape York, from Rockingham Bay to
Weymouth Bay.
Among the performances of less renown, but of much practical
utility in
surveying and
opening new paths through the country, we may mention that of
Captain Banister, showing the way across the southern part of
Western Australia, from Swan river to King George Sound, and that
of Messrs Robinson and G. H. Haydon in 1844, making good the route
from Port Phillip to Gipps' Land with loaded drays, through a dense
tangled scrub, which had been described by Strzelecki as his worst
obstacle. Again, in Western Australia there were the explorations
of the
Arrowsmith, the
Murchison, the Gascoyne, and the Ashburton rivers, by Captain Grey,
Mr
Roe, Governor
Fitzgerald, Mr R.
Austin, and the brothers Gregory,
whose discoveries have great importance from a geographical point
of view.
These local researches, and the more comprehensive attempts of
Leichhardt and Mitchell to solve the chief problems of. Australian
geography, must yield in
importance to the
Stuart grand achievement of Mr Stuart in
1862. The first of his
tours
independently performed, in 1858 and 1859, were around the South
Australian lakes, namely, Lake Torrens, Lake Eyre and Lake
Gairdner. These waters had been erroneously taken for parts of one
vast horseshoe or sickle shaped lake, only some 20 m. broad,
believed to encircle a large portion of the inland country, with
drainage at one end by a marsh into Spencer Gulf. The mistake,
shown in all the old maps of Australia, had originated in a curious
optical illusion. When Mr Eyre viewed the country from Mount
Deception in 1840, looking between Lake Torrens and the lake which
now bears his own name, the
refraction of light from the
glittering crust of salt that covers a large space of stony or
sandy ground produced an appearance of water. The error was
discovered, after eighteen years, by the explorations of Mr Babbage
and Major Warburton in 1858, while Mr Stuart, about the same time,
gained a more complete knowledge of the same district.
A reward of £io,000 having been offered by the legislature of
South Australia to the first man who should
traverse the whole continent from south to
north, starting from the city of Adelaide, Mr Stuart resolved to
make the attempt. He started in March 1860, passing Lake Torrens
and Lake Eyre, beyond which he found a pleasant, fertile country
till he crossed the Macdonnell range of mountains, just under the
line of the tropic of Capricorn. On the 23rd of April he reached a
mountain in S. lat. nearly 22°, and E. long. nearly 134°, which is
the most central marked point of the Australian continent, and has
been named Central Mount Stuart. Mr Stuart did not finish his task
on this occasion, on account of indisposition and other causes. But
the 18th degree of latitude had been reached, where the watershed
divided the rivers of the Gulf of Carpentaria from the Victoria
river, flowing towards the north-west coast. He had also proved
that the interior of Australia was not a stony desert, like the
region visited by Sturt in 1845. On the first day of the next year,
1861, Mr Stuart again started for a second attempt to cross the
continent, which occupied him eight months. He failed, however, to
advance farther than one geographical degree north of the point
reached in 1860, his progress being arrested by dense scrubs and
the want of water.
Meanwhile, in the province of Victoria, by means of a fund
subscribed among the colonists and a grant by the legislature, the
ill-fated expedition of Messrs Burke and Wills was started. It made
for the Barcoo (Cooper's Creek),
Burke and ins. with a
view to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria by a northerly course midway
between Sturt's track to the west and Leichhardt's to the east. The
leading men of the party were Mr
Robert O'Hara Burke, an officer of
police, and Mr William John
Wills, of the Melbourne
observatory. Leaving the main body of his
party at Menindie on the Darling under a man named Wright, Burke,
with
seven men, five horses and
sixteen camels, pushed on for Cooper's Creek, the understanding
being that Wright should follow him in easy stages to the depot
proposed to be there established. Wright frittered away his time in
the district beyond the Darling and did not attempt to follow the
party to Cooper's Creek, and Burke, tired of waiting, determined to
push on. Accordingly, dividing his party, leaving at the depot four
men and taking with him Wills and two men, King and
Gray, with a horse
and six camels, he left Cooper's Creek on the 16th of December and
crossed the desert traversed by Sturt fifteen years before. They
got on in spite of great difficulties, past the McKinlay range of
mountains, S. lat. 21° and 22°, and then reached the Flinders
river, which flows into the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Here,
without actually standing on the sea-
beach of the northern shore, they met the tidal
waters of the sea. On the 23rd of February 1861 they commenced the
return journey, having in effect accomplished the feat of crossing
the Australian continent. Gray, who had fallen ill, died on the
r6th of April. Five days later, Burke, Wills and King had repassed
the desert to the place on Cooper's Creek (the Barcoo, S. lat. 27°
40', E. long. 1 4 o 30'), where they had left the depot, with the
rest of the expedition. Here they experienced a cruel
disappointment. The depot was abandoned; the men in charge had
quitted the place the same day, believing that Burke and those with
him were lost. The men who had thus abandoned the depot rejoined
the main body of the expedition under Wright, who at length moved
to Cooper's Creek, and, incredible to relate, neglected to search
for the missing explorers. Burke, Wills and King, when they found
themselves so fearfully left alone and unprovided in the
wilderness, wandered
about in that district till near the end of June. They subsisted
miserably on the
bounty of
some natives, and partly by feeding on the seeds of a plant called
nardoo. At last both Wills and Burke died of
starvation. King, the sole survivor, was
saved by meeting the friendly blacks, and was found alive in
September by Mr A. W. Howitt's party, sent on purpose to find and
relieve that of Burke.
Four other parties, besides Howitt's, were sent out that year
from different Australian provinces. Three of them, respectively
commanded by Mr Walker, Mr Landsborough, and Mr Norman, sailed to
the north, where the latter two landed on the shores of the Gulf of
Carpentaria, while Mr Walker marched inland from Rockhampton. The
fourth party, under Mr J. McKinlay, from Adelaide, made for the
Barcoo by way of Lake Torrens. By these means, the unknown region
of Mid Australia was simultaneously entered from the north, south,
east and west, and important additions were made to geographical
knowledge. Landsborough crossed the entire continent from north to
south,
Leichhardt. between February and June 1862; and
McKinlay, from south to north, before the end of August in that
year. The interior of New South Wales and Queensland, all that lies
east of the r40th degree of
longitude, was examined. The Barcoo or
Cooper's Creek and its tributary streams were traced from the
Queensland mountains, holding a south-westerly course to Lake Eyre
in South Australia; the Flinders, the Gilbert, the Gregory, and
other northern rivers watering the country towards the Gulf of
Carpentaria were also explored. These valuable additions to
Australian geography were gained through humane efforts to relieve
the lost explorers. The bodies of Burke and Wills were recovered
and brought to Melbourne for a
solemn public funeral, and a noble monument has
been erected to their honour.
Mr Stuart, in 1862, made his third and final attempt to traverse
the continent from Adelaide along a central line, which, inclining
a little westward, reaches the north coast of Arnheim Land,
opposite Melville Island. He started in January, and on the 7th of
April reached the farthest northern point, near S. lat. 17°, where
he had turned back in May of the preceding year. He then pushed on,
through a very thick forest, with scarcely any water, till he came
to the streams which supply the Roper, a river flowing into the
western part of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Having crossed a
table-land of sandstone which divides these streams from those
running to the western shores of Arnheim Land, Mr Stuart, in the
month of July, passed down what is called the Adelaide river of
north Australia. Thus he came at length to stand on the
verge of the Indian Ocean; " gazing
upon it," a writer has said, " with as much delight as Balboa, when
he crossed the
Isthmus of
Darien from the Atlantic to the
Pacific." The line crossing Australia which was thus explored has
since been occupied by the electric telegraph connecting Adelaide,
Melbourne, Sydney, and other Australian cities with London.
A third part, at least, of the interior of the whole continent,
between the central line of Stuart and the known parts of. Western
Australia, from about 120° to 134° E. long., an extent of half a
million square miles, still remained a
blank in the map. But the two expeditions of
1873, conducted by William Christie Gosse (1842-1881), afterwards
deputy surveyorgeneral for South Australia, and Colonel (then
Major) Egerton Warburton, made a beginning in the exploration of
this
terra incognita west of the central telegraph route.
That line of more than 1800 m., having its southern extremity at
the head of Spencer Gulf, its northern at Port Darwin, in Arnheim
Land, passes Central Mount Stuart, in the middle of the continent,
S. lat. 22°, E. long. 134°. Mr Gosse, with men and horses provided
by the South Australian government, started on the 21st of April
from the telegraph station So m. south of Central Mount Stuart, to
strike into Western Australia. He passed the Reynolds range and
Lake Amadeus in that direction, but was compelled to turn south,
where he found a tract of well-watered grassy land. A singular rock
of
conglomerate, 2
m. long, 1 m. wide, and 1 roo ft. high, with a spring of water in
its centre, struck his attention. The country was mostly poor and
barren, sandy hillocks, with scanty growth of spinifex. Mr Gosse,
having travelled above 600 m., and getting to 26° 32' S. and 127°
E., two degrees within the Western Australian boundary, was forced
to return. Meantime a more successful attempt to reach the western
coast from the centre of Australia was made by Major Warburton,
with thirty camels, provided by Mr (afterwards Sir) T. Elder, of
South Australia. Leaving the telegraph line at Alice Springs (2 3 °
40' S., 133° 14' E.), 1120 m. north of Adelaide city, Warburton
succeeded in making his way to the De Grey river, Western
Australia. Overland routes had now been found possible, though
scarcely convenient for traffic, between all the widely separated
Australian provinces. In northern Queensland, also, there were
several explorations about this period, with results of some
interest. That performed by Mr W. Hann, with Messrs Warner, Tate
and
Taylor, in 1873, related
to the country north of the Kirchner range, watered by the Lynd,
the Mitchell, the Walsh and the
Palmer rivers, on the east side of the Gulf of
Carpentaria. The
coasting
expedition of Mr G. Elphinstone Dalrymple, with Messrs Hill and
Johnstone,
finishing in December 1873,
effected a valuable survey of the inlets and navigable rivers in
the Cape York Peninsula.
Of the several attempts to cross Western Australia, even Major
Warburton's expedition, the most successful, had failed in the
important particular of determining the nature of the country
through which it passed. Major Warburton had virtually raced across
from the Macdonnell range in South Australia to the headwaters of
the Oakover river on the northwest coast, without allowing himself
sufficient time to note the characteristics of the country. The
next important expedition was differently conducted. John
(afterwards Sir John) Forrest was despatched by the Perth
government with general instructions to obtain information
regarding the immense tract of country out of which flow the rivers
falling into the sea on the northern and western shores of Western
Australia. Leaving Yewin, a small settlement about lat. 28° S.,
long. 116° E., Forrest travelled north-east to the Murchison river,
and followed the course of that river to the Robinson ranges;
thence his course lay generally eastward along the 26th parallel.
Forrest and his party safely crossed the entire extent of Western
Australia, and entering South Australia struck the overland
telegraph line at Peake station, and, after resting, journeyed
south to Adelaide. Forrest traversed seventeen degrees of desert in
five months, a very wonderful achievement,. more especially as he
was able to give a full report of the country through which he
passed. His report destroyed all hope that pastoral settlement
would extend to the spinifex region; and the main object of
subsequent explorers was to determine the extent of the desert in
the direction of north and south. Ernest Giles made several
attempts to cross the Central Australian Desert, but it was not
until his third attempt that he was successful. His journey ranks
almost with Forrest's in the importance of its results and the
success with which the appalling difficulties of the journey were
overcome. Through the generosity of Sir Thomas Elder, of Adelaide,
Giles's expedition was equipped with camels. It started on the 23rd
of May 1875 from Port
Augusta. Working westerly along the line of the
30th parallel, Giles reached Perth in about five months. After
resting in Perth for a short time, he commenced the return journey,
which was made for the most part between the 24th and 25th
parallels, and again
successfully traversed the desert, reaching the overland telegraph
line in about seven months. Giles's journeys added greatly to our
knowledge of the characteristics of Western and South Australia,
and he was able to bear out the common opinion that the interior of
Australia west of 132° E. long. is a sandy and waterless waste,
entirely unfit for settlement.
The list of explorers since 1875 is a long one; but after
Forrest's and Giles's expeditions the main object ceased to be the
discovery of pastoral country: a new zest had been added to the
cause of exploration, and most of the smaller expeditions concerned
themselves with the search for gold. Amongst the more important
explorations may be ranked those of Tietkins in 1889, of Lindsay in
1891, of Wells in 1896, of Hiibbe in 1896, and of the Hon. David
Carnegie in 1896-97.
Lindsay's expedition, which was fitted out by Sir Thomas Elder, the
generous patron of Australian exploration, entered Western
Australia about the 26th parallel south lat., on the line of route
taken by Forrest in 1874. From this point the explorer worked in a
south-westerly direction to Queen Victoria Springs, where he struck
the track of Giles's expedition of 1875. From the Springs the
expedition went north-west and made a useful examination of the
country lying between 119° and 115° meridians and between 26° and
28° S. lat. Wells's expedition started from a base about 122° 20'
E. and 25° 54' S., and worked northward to the
Joanna Springs, situated on the tropic of
Capricorn and near the 124th meridian. From the springs the journey
was continued along the same meridian to the Fitzroy river. The
country passed through was mostly of a forbidding character, except
where the Kimberley district was entered, and the expedition
suffered even more than the usual hardships. The establishment of
the gold-fields, with their large population, caused great interest
to be taken in the discovery of practicable stock routes,
especially from South Australia in the east, and from Kimberley
district in the north. Alive to the importance of the trade, the
South Australian government despatched Hiibbe from Oodnadatta to
Coolgardie. He
successfully accomplished his journey, but had to report that there
was no practicable route for cattle between the two districts.
One of the most successful expeditions which traversed Western
Australia was that led and equipped by the Hon. David Carnegie,
which started in July 1896, and travelled north-easterly until it
reached Alexander Spring; then turning northward, it traversed the
country between Wells's track of 1896 and the South Australian
border. The expedition encountered very many hardships, but
successfully reached Hall Creek in the Kimberley district. After a
few months' rest it started on the return journey, following Sturt
Creek until its termination in Gregory's Salt Sea, and then keeping
parallel with the South Australian border as far as Lake Macdonald.
Rounding that lake the expedition moved south-west and reached the
settled districts in August 1897. The distance travelled was 5000
m., and the actual time employed was eight months. This expedition
put an end to the hope, so long entertained, that it was possible
to obtain a direct and practicable route for stock between
Kimberley and Coolgardie gold-fields; and it also proved that, with
the possible exception of small isolated patches, the desert
traversed contained no auriferous country.
It may be said that exploration on a large scale is now at an
end; there remain only the spaces, nowhere very extensive, between
the tracks of the old explorers yet to be examined, and these are
chiefly in the Northern Territory and in Western Australia north of
the tropic of Capricorn. The search for gold and the quest for
unoccupied pasturage daily diminish the extent of these areas.
3.
Political History. Of the six Australian states, New
South Wales is the oldest. It was in 1788, eighteen years after
Captain Cook explored the east coast, that Port Jackson was founded
as a penal station for criminals from England; and the settlement
retained that character, more or less, during the subsequent fifty
years, transportation being virtually suspended in 1839. The
colony, however, from 1821 had made a fair start in free industrial
progress. By this time, too, several of the other provinces had
come into existence. Van Diemen's Land, now called Tasmania, had
been occupied as early as 1803. It was an
auxiliary penal station under New South Wales
till in 1825 it became a separate government. From this island, ten
years later, parties crossed Bass Strait to Port Phillip, where a
new settlement was shortly established, forming till 1851 a part of
New South Wales, but now the state of Victoria. In 1827 and 1829,
an English company endeavoured to plant a settlement at the Swan
river, and this, added to a small military station established in
1825 at King George Sound, constituted Western Australia. On the
shores of the Gulf St Vincent, again, from 1835 to 1837, South
Australia was created by another joint-stock company, as an
experiment in the
Wakefield scheme of colonization. Such were
the political component parts of British Australia up to 1839. The
early history, therefore, of New South Wales is peculiar to itself.
Unlike the other mainland provinces, it was at first held and used
chiefly for the reception of British convicts. When that system was
abolished, the social conditions of New South Wales, Victoria, and
South Australia became more equal. Previous to the gold discoveries
of 1851 they may be included, from 1839, in a general summary
view.
The first British governors at Sydney, from 1788, ruled with
despotic power. They were naval or military officers in command of
the
garrison, the convicts
and the few free settlers. The duty was performed by such men as
Captain Arthur Phillip, Captain Hunter, and others. In the twelve
years' rule of General Macquarie, closing with 1821, the colony
made a substantial advance. By means of bond labour roads and
bridges were con structed, and
a route opened into the interior beyond
Rise of the Blue
Mountains. A population of 30,000, three-
New fourths of
them convicts, formed the
infant common-
South wealth, whose
attention was soon directed to the profit-
wales. able
trade of rearing fine wool sheep, first commenced by Captain John
McArthur in 1803. During the next ten years, 1821-1831,
Sir Thomas Brisbane and
Sir Ralph Darling, two generals of the army, being successively
governors, the colony increased, and eventually succeeded in
obtaining the advantages of a representative institution, by means
of a legislative council. Then came General Sir
Richard Bourke, whose
wise and liberal administration proved most beneficial. New South
Wales became prosperous and attractive to emigrants with capital.
Its enterprising ambition was encouraged by taking fresh country
north and south. In the latter direction, explored by Mitchell in
1834 and 1836, lay Australia
Felix, now Victoria, including the
well-watered, thickly-wooded country of Gipps' Land.
This district, then called Port Phillip, in the time of Governor
Sir George Gipps, 1838-1846, was growing fast into a position
claiming independence. Melbourne,. which began with a few huts on
the banks of the Marra-Marra in 1835, Gr
owth Vi
ctor
a of. was in 1840 a busy town of 6000 inhabitants, the
population of the whole district, with the towns of Geelong and
Portland, reaching 12,850;
while its import trade amounted to 204,000, and its exports to
138,000. Such was the growth of infant Victoria in five years; that
of Adelaide or South Australia, in the same period, was nearly
equal to it. At Melbourne there was a deputy governor, Mr Latrobe,
under Sir George Gipps at Sydney. Adelaide had its own governors,
first Captain Hindmarsh, next Colonel Gawler, and then Captain
George Grey. Western Australia progressed but slowly, with less
than 4000 inhabitants altogether, under Governors Stirling and
Hutt.
The general advancement of Australia, to the era of the
goldmining, had been satisfactory, in spite of a severe commercial
crisis, from 1841 to 1843, caused by extravagant land speculations
and inflated prices. Victoria produced already more wool than New
South Wales,the aggregate produce of Australia in 1852 being
45,000,000 lb; and South Australia, between 1842 and this date, had
opened most valuable mines of copper. The population of New South
Wales in 1851 was 190,000; that of Victoria, 77,000; and that of
South Australia about the same. At Summerhill Creek, 20 m. north of
Bathurst, in the Macquarie plains, gold was discovered, in February
1851, by Mr E. Hargraves, a gold-miner from
California. The intelligence was made known
in April or May; and then began a rush of thousands, - men leaving
their former employments in the bush or in the towns to search for
the ore so greatly coveted in all ages. In August it was found at
Anderson's Creek, near Melbourne; a few weeks later the great
Ballarat gold-field, 80 m. west of that city, was opened; and after
that, Bendigo to the north. Not only in these lucky provinces, New
South Wales and Victoria, where the auriferous deposits were
revealed, but in every British colony of Australasia, all ordinary
industry was left for the one exciting pursuit. The copper mines of
South Australia were for the time deserted, while Tasmania and New
Zealand lost many inhabitants, who emigrated to the more promising
country. The disturbance of social, industrial and commercial
affairs, during the first two or three years of the gold era, was
very great. Immigrants from Europe, and to some extent from
North America and
China, poured into Melbourne, where the arrivals in 1852 averaged
2000 persons in a week. The population of Victoria was doubled in
the first twelvemonth of the gold
fever, and the value of imports and exports was
multiplied tenfold between 1851 and 1853. The colony of Victoria
was constituted a separate province in July 1851, Mr Latrobe being
appointed governor, followed by Sir Charles Hotham and Sir
Henry Barkly in succession.
The separation of the northern part of eastern Australia,
Discovery of gold. Early tion. under the name of
Queensland, from the original province of New South Wales, took
place in 1859. At that time the district contained about 25,000
inhabitants; and in the first six years its population was
quadrupled and its trade trebled.
At the beginning of 1860, when the excitement of the gold
discoveries was wearing off, five of the states had received from
the home government the boon of responsible government, and were in
a position to work out the problem of their position without
external interference; it was not, however, until 1890 that Western
Australia was placed in a similar position. After the establishment
of responsible government the main questions at issue were the
secular as opposed to the religious system of public instruction,
protection as opposed to a revenue
tariff, vote by
ballot, adult
suffrage, abolition of transportation and
assignment of convicts,
and free selection of lands before survey; these, and indeed all.
the great questions upon which the country was divided, were
settled within twenty years of the granting of self-government.1
With the disposal of these important problems, politics in
Australia became a struggle for office between men whose political
principles were very much alike, and the
tenure of power enjoyed by the various
governments did not depend upon the principles of administration so
much as upon the personal fitness of the head of the ministry, and
the acceptability of his ministry to the members of the more
popular branch of the legislature.
The two most striking political events in the modern history of
Australia, as a whole, apart from the readiness it has shown to
remain a part of the British empire, and to in Australia. Taking
the states as a whole, agrarian legislation has been the most
important subject that has engrossed the attention of their
parliaments, and every state has been more or less engaged in
tinkering with its land laws. The main object of all such
legislation is to secure the residence of the owners on the land.
The object of settlers, however, in a great many, perhaps in the
majority of instances, is to dispose of their holdings as soon as
possible after the requirements of the law have been complied with,
and to avoid permanent settlement. This has greatly facilitated the
formation of large estates devoted chiefly to grazing purposes,
contrary to the policy of the legislature, which has everywhere
sought to encourage tillage, or tillage joined to stock-rearing,
and to discourage large holdings. The importance of the land
question is so great that it is hardly an exaggeration to say that
it is usual for every parliament of Australia to have before it a
proposal to alter or amend its land laws. Since 1870 there have
been five radical changes made in New South Wales. In Victoria the
law has been altered five times, and in Queensland and South
Australia seven times.
The prevention or regulation of the immigration of coloured
races has also claimed a great share of parliamentary attention.
The agitation against the influx of Chinese commenced industry. The
Chinese were hard-working and had the usual fortune attending those
who work hard. They spent little on drink or with the storekeepers,
and were, therefore, by no means popular. As early as 1860 there
had been disturbances of a serious character, and the Chinese were
chased off the goldfields of New South Wales, serious riots
occurring at Lambing Flat, on the Burrangong goldfield. The Chinese
difficulty, so far as the mining population was concerned, was
solved by the exhaustion of the extensive alluvial deposits; the
miners'
prejudice
against the race, however, still exists, though they are no longer
serious competitors, and the laws of some of the states forbid any
Chinese to engage in mining without the express authority in
writing of the minister of mines. The nearness of China to
Australia has always appeared to the Australian
democracy as a menace to
the integrity of the white settlements; and at the many conferences
of representatives from the various states, called to discuss
matters of general concern, the Chinese question has always held a
prominent place, but the absence of any federal authority had made
common action difficult. In 1888 the last important conference on
the Chinese question was held in Sydney and attended by delegates
from all the states. Previously to the meeting of the conference
there had been a great deal of discussion in regard to the influx
of Chinese, and such influx was on all sides agreed to be a growing
danger. The conference, therefore, merely expressed the public
sentiment when it resolved that, although it was not advisable to
prohibit altogether this class of immigration, it was necessary in
the public interests that the number of Chinese privileged to land
should be so limited as to prevent the people of that race from
ever becoming an important element in the community. In conformity
with this determination the various state legislatures enacted new
laws or amended the existing laws to cope with the difficulty;
these remained until they were in effect superseded by Commonwealth
legislation. The objection to admitting immigrants was not only to
the Chinese, but extended to all Asiatics; but as a large
proportion of the persons whose entrance into the colonies it was
desired to stop were British subjects, and the Imperial government
refused to sanction any measure directly prohibiting in plain terms
the movement of British subjects from one part of the empire to
another, resort was made to indirect legislation; this was the more
advisable, as the rise of the Japanese power in the East and the
alliance of that country with
Great
Britain rendered it
necessary to pay attention to the susceptibilities of a powerful
nation whose subjects might be affected by restrictive laws.
Eventually the difficulty was overcome by the device of an
educational test based on the provisions of an act in operation in
Natal. It was provided that a
person was to be prohibited from landing in Australia who failed to
write in any prescribed language fifty words dictated to him by the
commonwealth officer supervising immigration. The efficacy of this
legislation is in its administration, the language in which
coloured aliens are usually tested being European. The agitation
against the Chinese covered a space of over fifty years, a long
period in the history of a young country, and was promoted and kept
alive almost entirely by the trades unions, and the restriction
acts were the first legislative triumph of the
Labour party, albeit
that party was not at the time directly represented in
parliament.
One of the most notable events in the modern history of
Australia occurred shortly after the great strike of 1890. This was
what is ordinarily termed the bank crisis of 1893. Although this
crisis followed on the great strike the B g ?
two things had no real connexion, the crisis being the
1893. natural result of events long anterior to 1890. The
effects of the crisis were mainly felt in the three eastern states,
Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, Tasmania and South
Australia being affected chiefly by reason of the fact of their
intimate financial connexion with the eastern states. The approach
of the crisis was heralded by many signs. Deposits were shifted
from bank to bank, there were small runs on several of the savings
banks guaranteed by the government, mortgagees required additional
security from their
debtors, bankruptcies develop along Imperial lines, are the advent
of the p g p Labour party and the establishment of federation.
As regards the last mentioned it may be said that it was
accomplished from within, there being no real external necessity
for the union of the states. Leading politicians have in all the
states felt the cramping effects of mere domestic legislation,
albeit on the proper direction of such legislation depends the
wellbeing of the people; and to this sense of the limitations of
local politics was due, as much as to anything else, the movement
towards federation.
Before coming, however, to the history of federation, and the
evolution of the Labour
party, we must refer briefly to some other questions which have
been of general interest very soon after the gold discoveries, the
European miners objecting strongly to the presence of these aliens
upon the diggings. The allegations made con cerning the Chinese
really amounted to a charge of undue 1 Australia, it may be noted,
has woman's suffrage in all the states (Victoria, the last,
adopting it in November 1908), and for the federal assembly.
became frequent, and some of the banks began to accumulate gold
against the evil day. The
building societies and financial
institutions in
receipt of
deposits, or so many of them as were on an unsound footing, failed
at an
early period of the depression, so
also did the weaker banks. There was distrust in the minds of the
depositors, especially those whose holdings were small, and most of
the banks were, at a very early period, subjected to the
strain of repaying a large
proportion of their deposits as they fell due. For a time the money
so withdrawn was hoarded, but after a while it found its way back
again into the banks. The crisis was by no means a sudden
crash, and even when the failures
began to take place they were spread over a period of sixteen
weeks.
The first noticeable effect of the crisis was a great scarcity
of employment. Much capital was locked up in the failed banks, and
was therefore not available for distribution amongst wageearners.
Wages fell precipitately, as
also did rents. There was an almost entire cessation of building,
and a large number of houses in the chief cities remained
untenanted, the occupants moving to
lodgings and more than one family
living in a single house. Credit became greatly restricted, and all
descriptions of speculative enterprise came to an end. The
consuming power of the population was greatly diminished, and in
the year following the crisis the imports into Australia from
abroad diminished by four and three-quarter millions. In fact,
everywhere the demand for goods, especially of those for domestic
consumption, fell away; and there was a reduction in the average
number of persons employed in the manufacturing industries to the
extent of more than 20%. The lack of employment in factories
naturally affected the coal mining industry, and indeed every
industry in the states, except those connected with the export
trade, was severely affected. During the crisis banks having a
paid-up capital and reserves of 5,000,000 and deposits of
53,000,000 closed their doors. Most of these, however, reopened for
business before many weeks. The crisis was felt in the large cities
more keenly than in the country districts, and in Melbourne more
severely than in any other capital. The change of fortune proved
disastrous to many families, previously to all appearances in
opulent circumstances, but by all classes alike their reverses were
borne with the greatest bravery. In its ultimate effects the crisis
was by no means evil. Its true meaning was not lost upon a business
community that had had twenty years of almost unchecked prosperity.
It required the chastening of adversity to teach it a salutary
lesson, and a few years after,
when the first effects of the crisis had passed away, business was
on a much sounder footing than had been the case for very many
years. One of the first results was to put trade on a sound basis
and to abolish most of the abuses of the credit system, but the
most striking effect of the crisis was the attention which was
almost immediately directed to productive pursuits. Agriculture
everywhere expanded, the mining industry revived, and, if it had
not been for the low prices of staple products, the visible effects
of the crisis would have passed away within a very few years.
Another matter which deserves attention was the great drought
which culminated in the year 1902. For some years previously the
pastoral industry had been declining
Drought. 1902 a nd
the number of sheep and cattle in Australia had
of P
greatly diminished, but the year 1902 was one of veritable drought.
The failure of the crops was almost universal and large numbers of
sheep and cattle perished for want of food. The truth is,
pastoralists for the most part carried on their industry trusting
very greatly to
luck, not making
any special provisions against the vicissitudes of the seasons.
Enormous quantities of natural hay were allowed every year to rot
or be destroyed by bush fires, and the bountiful provision made by
nature to carry them over the seasons of dry weather absolutely
neglected; so that when the destructive season of 1902 fell upon
them, over a large area of territory there was no food for the
stock. The year 1903 proved most bountiful, and in a few years all
trace of the disastrous drought of 1902 passed away. But beyond
this the pastoralist learnt most effectually the lesson that, in a
country like Australia, provision must be made for the occasional
season when the rainfall is entirely inadequate to the wants of the
farmer and the pastoralist.
The question of federation was not lost sight of by the framers
of the original constitution which was bestowed upon New South
Wales. In the report of the committee of the legislative council
appointed in 18 2 to prepare a constitution
Federa- PP 5 P
P
tlon. for that colony, the following passage occurs: - "
One of the most prominent legislative measures required by the
colony, and the colonies of the Australian group generally, is the
establishment at once of a general assembly, to make laws in
relation to those intercolonial questions that have arisen or may
hereafter arise among them. The questions which would claim the
exercise of such a jurisdiction appear to be (I) intercolonial
tariffs and the coasting trade; (2) railways, roads, canals, and
other such works running through any two of the colonies; (3)
beacons and lighthouses on the coast; (4) intercolonial gold
regulations; (5) postage between the said colonies; (6) a general
court of appeal from the courts of sucn colonies; (7) a power to
legislate on all other subjects which may be submitted to them by
addresses from the legislative councils and assemblies of the
colonies, and to appropriate to any of the above-mentioned objects
the necessary sums of money, to be raised by a percentage on the
revenues of all the colonies interested." This wise recommendation
received very scant attention, and it was not until the necessities
of the colonies forced them to it that an attempt was made to do
what the framers of the original constitution suggested. Federation
at no time actually dropped out of sight, but it was not until
thirtyfive years later that any practical steps were taken towards
its accomplishment. Meanwhile a sort of makeshift was devised, and
the Imperial parliament passed a measure permitting the formation
of a federal council, to which any colony that felt inclined to
join could send delegates. Of the seven colonies New South Wales
and New Zealand stood aloof from the council, and from the
beginning it was therefore shorn of a large share of the
prestige that would have
attached to a body speaking and acting on behalf of a united
Australia. The council had also a fatal defect in its constitution.
It was merely a deliberative body, having no executive functions
and possessing no control of funds or other means to put its
legislation in force. Its existence was well-nigh forgotten by the
people of Australia until the occurrence of its biennial meetings,
and even then but slight interest was taken in its proceedings. The
council held eight meetings, at which many matters of intercolonial
interest were discussed. The last occasion of its being called
together was in 1899, when the council met in Melbourne. In 1889 an
important step towards federation was taken by
Sir Henry
Parkes. The occasion was the report of Major-General Edwards on
the defences of Australia, and Sir Henry addressed the other
premiers on the desirability of a federal union for purposes of
defence. The immediate result was a conference at Parliament House,
Melbourne, of representatives from each of the seven colonies. This
conference adopted an address to the queen expressing its
loyalty and
attachment, and
submitting certain resolutions which affirmed the desirability of
an early union, under the crown, of the Australasian colonies, on
principles just to all, and provided that the remoter Australasian
colonies should be entitled to admission upon terms to be
afterwards agreed upon, and that steps should be taken for the
appointment of delegates to a national Australasian convention, to
consider and report upon an adequate scheme for a federal
convention. In accordance with the understanding arrived at, the
various Australasian parliaments appointed delegates to attend a
national convention to be held
in Sydney, and on the 2nd March 1891 the convention held its first
meeting. Sir Henry Parkes was elected president, and he moved a
series of resolutions embodying the principles necessary to
establish, on an enduring foundation, the structure of a federal
government. These resolutions were slightly altered by the
conference, and were adopted in the following form: - 1. The powers
and rights of existing colonies to remain intact, except as regards
such powers as it may be necessary to hand over to the Federal
government.
2. No alteration to be made in states without the consent of the
legislatures of such states, as well as of the federal
parliament.
3. Trade between the federated colonies to be absolutely
free.
4. Power to impose customs and excise duties to be in the
Federal government and parliament.
5. Military and naval defence forces to be under one
command.
6. The federal constitution to make provision to enable each
state to make amendments in the constitution if necessary for the
purposes of federation.
Other formal resolutions were also agreed to, and on the 31st of
March Sir
Samuel Griffith, as
chairman of the committee on constitutional machinery, brought up a
draft Constitution Bill, which was carefully considered by the
convention in committee of the whole and adopted on the 9th of
April, when the convention was formally dissolved. The bill,
however, fell absolutely dead, not because it was not a good bill,
but because the movement out of which it arose had not popular
initiative, and therefore failed to reach the popular
imagination.
Although the bill drawn up by the convention of 1891 was not
received by the people with any show of interest, the federation
movement did not die out; on the contrary, it had many enthusiastic
advocates, especially in the colony of Victoria. In 1894 an
unofficial convention was held at Corowa, at which the cause of
federation was strenuously advocated, but it was not until 1895
that the movement obtained new life, by reason of the proposals
adopted at a meeting of premiers convened by Mr G. H. Reid of New
South Wales. At this meeting all the colonies except New Zealand
were represented, and it was agreed that the parliament of each
colony should be asked to pass a bill enabling the people to choose
ten persons to represent the colony on a federal convention; the
work of such convention being the framing of a federal constitution
to be submitted to the people for approval by means of the
referendum. During the
year 1896 Enabling Acts were passed by New South Wales, Victoria,
Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, and delegates were
elected by popular vote in all the colonies named except Western
Australia, where the delegates were chosen by parliament. The
convention met in Adelaide on the 22nd of March 1897, and, after
drafting a bill for the consideration of the various parliaments,
adjourned until the 2nd of September. On that date the delegates
reassembled in Sydney, and debated the bill in the light of the
suggestions made by the legislatures of the federating colonies. In
the course of the proceedings it was announced that Queensland
desired to come within the proposed union; and in view of this
development, and in order to give further opportunity for the
consideration of the bill, the convention again adjourned. The
third and final
session was
opened in Melbourne on the 10th of January 1898, but Queensland was
still unrepresented; and, after further consideration, the draft
bill was finally adopted on the 16th of March and remitted to the
various colonies for submission to the people.
The constitution was accepted by Victoria, South Australia and
Tasmania by popular
acclamation, but in New South Wales very
great opposition was shown, the main points of objection being the
financial provisions, equal representation in the
Senate, and the difficulty in the way of the
larger states securing an
amendment of the constitution in the event of
a conflict with the smaller states. As far as the other colonies
were concerned, it was evident that the bill was safe, and public
attention throughout Australia was fixed on New South Wales, where
a fierce political contest was raging, which it was recognized
would decide the fate of the measure for the time being. The fear
was as to whether the statutory number of 80,000 votes necessary
for the acceptance of the bill would be reached. This fear proved
to be well founded, for the result of the referendum in New South
Wales showed 7 1 ,595 votes in favour of the bill and 66,228
against it, and it was accordingly lost. In Victoria, Tasmania and
South Australia, on the other hand, the bill was accepted by
triumphant majorities. Western Australia did not put it to the
vote, as the Enabling Act of that colony only provided for joining
a federation of which New South Wales should form a part. The
existence of such a strong opposition to the bill in the mother
colony convinced even its most zealous advocates that some changes
would have to be made in the constitution before it could be
accepted by the people; consequently, although the general election
in New South Wales, held six or
seven weeks later, was fought on the
federal issue, yet the opposing parties seemed to occupy somewhat
the same ground, and the question narrowed itself down to one as to
which party should be entrusted with the negotiations:to be
conducted on behalf of the colony, with a view to securing a
modification of the objectionable features of the bill. The new
parliament decided to adopt the procedure of again sending the
premier, Mr Reid, into conference, armed with a series of
resolutions affirming its desire to bring about the completion of
federal union, but asking the other colonies to agree to the
reconsideration of the provisions which were most generally
objected to in New South Wales. The other colonies interested were
anxious to bring the matter to a speedy termination, and readily
agreed to this course of procedure. Accordingly a premiers'
conference was held in Melbourne at the end of January 1899, at
which Queensland was for the first time represented. At this
conference a
compromise was effected, something was
conceded to the claims of New South Wales, but the main principles
of the bill remained intact. The bill as amended was submitted to
the
electors of each
colony and again triumphantly carried in Victoria, South Australia
and Tasmania. In New South Wales and Queensland there were still a
large number of persons opposed to the measure, which was
nevertheless carried in both colonies. New South Wales having
decided in favour of federation, the way was clear for a decision
on the part of Western Australia. The Enabling Bill passed the
various stages in the parliament of that colony, and the question
was then adopted by referendum.
In accordance with this general
verdict of all the states, the colonial draft
bill was submitted to the imperial government for legislation as an
imperial act; and six delegates were sent to England to explain the
measure and to pilot it through the cabinet and parliament. A bill
was presented to the British parliament which embodied and
established, with such variations as had been accepted on behalf of
Australia by the delegates, the constitution agreed to at the
premiers' conference of 1899 and speedily became law. Under this
act, which was dated the 9th of July 1900, a
proclamation was
issued on the 17th of September of the same year, declaring that,
on and after the 1st of January 1901, the people of New South
Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Western
Australia should be united in a federal commonwealth under the name
of the Commonwealth of Australia.
The six colonies entering the Commonwealth were denominated
original states, and new states might be admitted, or might be
formed by separation from or union of two or more states or parts
of states; and territories (as distinguished from
Provisions states) might be taken over and governed under
the legis-
of the Act lative power of the Commonwealth.
The legislative of 1900. power is vested in a federal parliament,
consisting of the sovereign, a senate, and a house of
representatives, the sovereign being represented by a
governor-general. The Senate was to consist of the same number of
members (not less than six) for each state, the term of service
being six years, but subject to an arrangement that half the number
would retire every three years. The House of Representatives was to
consist of members chosen in the different states in numbers
proportioned to their population, but never fewer than five. The
first House of Representatives was to contain seventy-five members.
For elections to the Senate the governors of states, and for
general elections of the House of Representatives the
governor-general, would cause writs to be issued. The Senate would
choose its own president, and the House of Representatives its
speaker; each house would make
its own rules of procedure; in each, one-third of the number of
members would form a
quorum;
the members of each must take oath, or make
affirmation of
allegiance; and all alike would receive an
allowance of £400 a
year. The legislative powers of the parliament have a wide range,
many matters being transferred to it from the colonial parliaments.
The more important subjects with which it deals are trade, shipping
and railways; taxation, bounties, the borrowing of money on the
credit of the Commonwealth; the postal and telegraphic services;
defence, census and
statistics; currency, coinage, banking,
bankruptcy;
weights
and measures;
copyright,
patents and
trade marks; marriage and
divorce; immigration and
emigration; conciliation
and
arbitration in
industrial disputes. Bills imposing taxation or appropriating
revenue must not originate in the Senate, and neither taxation
bills nor bills appropriating revenue for the annual service of the
government may be amended in the Senate, but the Senate may return
such bills to the House of Representatives with a request for their
amendment.
Appropriation laws must not deal with
other matters. Taxation laws must deal with only one subject of
taxation; but customs and excise duties may, respectively, be dealt
with together. Votes for the appropriation of the revenue shall not
pass unless recommended by the governor-general. The constitution
provides means for the settlement of disputes between the houses,
and requires the assent of the sovereign to all laws. The executive
power is vested in the governor-general, assisted by an executive
council appointed by himself. He has command of the army and navy,
and appoints federal ministers and judges. The ministers are
members of the executive council, and must be, or within three
months of their appointment must become, members of the parliament.
The judicial powers are vested in a high court and other federal
courts, and the federal judges hold office for life or during good
behaviour. The High Court has appellate jurisdiction in cases from
other federal courts and from the supreme courts of the states, and
it has original jurisdiction in matters arising under laws made by
the federal parliament, in disputes between states, or residents in
different states, and in matters affecting the representatives of
foreign powers. Special provisions were made respecting appeals
from the High Court to the sovereign in council. The constitution
set forth elaborate arrangements for the administration of finance
and trade during the transition period following the transference
of departments to the Commonwealth. Within two years uniform
customs duties were to be imposed; thereafter the parliament of the
Commonwealth had exclusive power to impose customs and excise
duties, or to grant bounties; and trade within the Commonwealth was
to be absolutely free. Exceptions were made permitting the states
to grant bounties on mining and (with the consent of the
parliament) on exports of produce or manufactures - Western
Australia being for a time partially exempted from the
prohibition to impose
import duties.
The constitution, parliament and laws of each state, subject to
the federal constitution, retained their authority;
state rights were
carefully safeguarded, and an inter-state commission was given
powers of
adjudication and of administration of the
laws relating to trade,
transport and other matters. Provision was made for necessary
alteration of the constitution of the Commonwealth, but so that no
alteration could be effected unless the question had been directly
submitted to, and the change accepted by the electorate in the
states. The seat of government was to be within New South Wales,
not less than 100 m. distant from Sydney, and of an area not less
than 100 sq. m. Until other provision was made, the
governor-general was to have a
salary of £10,000, paid by the Commonwealth.
Respecting the salaries of the governors of states, the
constitution made no provision.
The choice of governor-general of the new Commonwealth fell upon
Lord Hopetoun (afterwards Lord
Linlithgow), who had won golden opinions as
governor of Victoria a few years before; Mr (afterwards Sir Edmund)
Barton, who had taken the lead
among the Australian delegates, became first
prime minister;
and the Commonwealth was inaugurated at the opening of 1901. The
first parliament under the constitution was elected on the 29th and
30th of March 1901, and was opened by the prince of Wales on the
9th of May following. In October 1908 the Yass-Canberra district,
near the town of Yass, N.S.W., was at length selected by both
federal houses to contain the future federal capital.
The Labour movement in Australia may be traced back to the early
days when transportation was in vogue, and the free immigrant and
the time-expired convict objected to the competition of the bond
labourer. The great
p g object of these early
struggles being attained, Labour directed its attention mainly to
securing shorter hours. It was aided very materially by the dearth
of workers consequent on the gold discoveries, when every man could
command his own price. When the excitement consequent on the gold
finds had subsided, there was a considerable reaction against the
claims of Labour, and this was greatly helped by the congested
state of the labour market; but the principle of an eight-hours day
made progress, and was conceded in several trades. In the early
years of the 'seventies the colonies entered upon an era of
wellbeing, and for about twelve years every man, willing to work
and capable of exerting himself, readily found employment. The
Labour unions were able to secure in these years many concessions
both as to hours and wages. In 1873 there was an important rise in
wages, in the following year there was a further advance, and
another in 1876; but in 1877 wages fell back a little, though not
below the rate of 1874. In 1882 there was a very important advance
in wages; carpenters received 11s. a day, bricklayers 12s. 6d.,
stone-masons 1 is 6d., plasterers 12s., painters 11s., blacksmiths
ros., and navvies and general
labourers 8s., and work was very plentiful. For five years these
high wages ruled; but in 1886 there was a sharp fall, though wages
still remained very good. In 1888 there was an advance, and again
in 1889. In 1890 matters were on the
eve of a great change and wages fell, in most cases
to a point 20% below the rates of 1885. During the whole period
from 1873 onwards, prices, other than of labour, were steadily
tending downwards, so that the cost of living in 1890 was much
below that of 1873. Taking everything into consideration the
reduction was, perhaps, not less than 20 Lo, so that, though the
nominal or money wages in 1873 and 1890 were the same, the actual
wages were much higher in the latter year. Much of the improvement
in the lot of the wage-earners has been due to the Labour
organizations, yet so late as 1881 these organizations were of so
little account, politically, that when the law relating to trades
unions was passed in New South Wales, the
English law was followed, and it was simply
enacted that the purposes of any trades union shall not be deemed
unlawful (so as to render a member liable to criminal
prosecution for
conspirac y or otherwise) merely by reason that they are in
restraint of trade. After
the year 1884 Labour troubles became very frequent, the New South
Wales coal miners in particular being at war with the colliery
owners during the greater part of the six years intervening between
then and what is called the Great Strike. The strong downward
tendency of prices made a reduction of wages imperative; but the
labouring classes failed to recognize any such necessity, and
strongly resented any reductions proposed by employers. It was hard
indeed for a carter drawing coal to a gasworks to recognize the
necessity which compelled a reduction in his wages because wool had
fallen 20 7 0. Nor were other labourers, more nearly connected with
the producing interests, satisfied with a reduction of wages
because produce had fallen in price all round. Up to 1889 wages
held their ground, although work had become more difficult to
obtain, and some industries were being carried on without any
profit. It was at such an inopportune time that the most extensive
combination of Labour yet brought into action against capital
formulated its demands. It is possible that the London dockers'
strike was not without its influence on the minds of the Australian
Labour leaders. That strike had been liberally helped by the
Australian unions, and it was confidently predicted that, as the
Australian workers were more effectively organized than the English
unions, a corresponding success would result from their course of
action. A strike of the Newcastle miners, after lasting twenty-nine
weeks, came to an end in January 1890, and throughout the rest of
the year there was great unrest in Labour circles. On the 6th of
September the silver mines closed down, and a week later a
conference of employers issued a manifesto which was met next day
by a
counter-manifesto of
the Intercolonial Labour Conference, and almost immediately
afterwards by the calling out of 40,000 men. The time chosen for
the strike was the height of the wool season, when a cessation of
work would be attended with the maximum of inconvenience. Sydney
was the centre of the disturbance, and the city was in a state of
industrial
siege, feeling
running to dangerous extremes. Riotous scenes occurred both in
Sydney and on the coal-fields, and a large number of special
constables were sworn in by the government. Towards the en._ cf
October 20,000 shearers were called out, and many other trades,
principally concerned with the handling or shipping of wool, joined
the ranks of the strikers, with the result that the maritime and
pastoral industries throughout the whole of Australia were most
injuriously disturbed. The Great Strike terminated early in
November 1890, the employers gaining a decisive victory. The
colonies were, however, to have other and bitter experiences of
strikes before Labour recognized that of all means for settling
industrial Australians in South America. After much negotiation the
leader, Mr
William Lane, a Brisbane
journalist, decided on
Paraguay, and he tramped across the continent,
preaching a new crusade,
and gathering in funds and recruits in his progress. On the 16th of
July 1893 the first little army of " New Australians " left Sydney
in the " Royal
Tar," which arrived
at Montevideo on the 31st of August. Other consignments of
intending settlers in " New Australia " followed; but though the
settlement is still in existence it has completely failed to
realize the impracticable ideals of its original members. The
Queensland government assisted some of the disillusioned to escape
from the
paradise which
proved a
prison; some managed
to get away on their own account; and those that have remained have
split into as many settlements almost as there are settlers.
Another effect of the Great Strike was in a more practical
direction. New South Wales was the first country which endeavoured
to
settle its labour
grievances through the ballot-
box
and to send a great party to parliament as the direct
representation of Labour, pledged to obtain through legislation
what it was unable to obtain by strikes and physical force. The
principle of one-man one-vote had been persistently advocated
without arousing any special parliamentary or public enthusiasm
until the meeting of the Federal Convention in 1891. The convention
was attended by Sir George Grey, who was publicly welcomed to the
colony by New Zealanders resident in Sydney, and by other admirers,
and his reception was an absolute
ovation. He eloquently and persistently
advocated the principle of oneman one-vote as the bed-rock of all
democratic reform. This subsequently formed the first
plank of the Labour platform.
Several attempts had been made by individuals belonging to the
Labour party to enter the New South Wales parliament, but it was
not until 1891 that the occurrence of a general election gave the
party the looked-for opportunity for concerted action. The results
of the election came as a complete surprise to the majority of the
community. The Labour party captured 35 seats out of a House of 125
members; and as the old parties almost equally divided the
remaining seats, and a
fusion
was impossible, the Labour representatives dominated the situation.
It was not long, however, before the party itself became divided on
the fiscal question; and a Protectionist government coming into
power, about half the Labour members gave it consistent support and
enabled it to maintain office for about three years, the party as a
political unit being thus destroyed. The events of these three
years taught the Labour leaders that a parliamentary party was of
little practical influence unless it was able to cast on all
important occasions a solid vote, and to meet the case a new method
was devised. The party therefore determined that they would refuse
to support any person standing in the Labour interests who refused
to
pledge himself to vote on
all occasions in such way as the majority of the party might decide
to be expedient. This was called the " solidarity pledge," and,
united under its sanction, what was left of the Labour party
contested the general election of 1894. The result was a defeat,
their numbers being reduced from 35 to 19; but a
signal triumph was won for solidarity. Very few
of the members who refused to take the pledge were returnca, and
the adherents of the united party were able to accomplish more with
their reduced number than under the old conditions.
The two features of the Labour party in New South Wales are its
detachment from other parties and the control of the
caucus. The caucus, which is the
natural corollary of the detachment, determines by majority the
vote of the whole of the members of the party, independence of
action being allowed on minor questions only. So far the party has
refrained from formal alliance with the other great parties of the
state. It supports the government as the power alone capable of
promoting legislation, but its support is given only so long as the
measures of the government are consistent with the Labour policy.
This position the Labour party has been able to maintain with great
success, owing to the circumstance that the other parties have been
almost equally balanced.
The movement towards forming a parliamentary Labour party was
not confined to New South Wales; on the contrary, it was common to
all the states, having its origin in the failure of the Great
Strike of 1890. The experience of the party was also much the same
as in New South Wales, but its greatest triumphs were achieved in
party. South Australia. The Labour party has been in power
in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, and has, on
many occasions, decided the fate of the government on a critical
division in all the states except Tasmania and Victoria. Different
ideals dominate the party in the different states. The one ideal
which has just been described represents the Labour party from the
New South Wales standpoint. The only qualification worth mentioning
is the signing of the pledge of solidarity. The other ideal,
typified by the South Australian party, differs from this in one
important respect. To the Labour party in that state are admitted
only persons who have worked for their living at manual labour, and
this qualification of being an actual worker is one that was
strongly insisted upon at the formation of the party and strictly
adhered to, although the temptation to break away from it and
accept as candidates persons of superior education and position has
been very great. On the formation of the Commonwealth a Labour
party was established in the federal houses. It comprises one-third
of the representation in the House of Representatives, and perhaps
a still larger proportion in the Senate. The party is, however,
formed on a broader basis than the state parties, the solidarity
pledge extends only to votes upon which the fate of a government
depends. Naturally, however, as the ideals of the members of the
party are the same, the members of the Labour party will be
generally found voting together on all important divisions, the
chief exception being with regard to
free trade or protection. The Labour party
held power in the Commonwealth for a short period, and has had the
balance of
power in its hands ever since the formation of the
Commonwealth. (T. A. C.) Australian legislation in the closing
years of the 19th century and the first decade of the 10th bore the
most evident traces of the Labour party's influence. In all the
colonies a complete departure from principles laid down by the
leading political economists of the 1 th century was dig P 9 Y made
when acts were passed subjecting every branch of domestic industry
to the control of specially constituted tribunals, which were
empowered among other important functions to fix the minimum rate
of wages to be paid to all grades of workmen. (See also the
articles
Arbitration And
Conciliation;
Trade Unions;
Labour
Legislation.) Victoria was the
pioneer in factory legislation, the first
Victorian act of that character dating from 1873. In 1884 a royal
commission, appointed two years earlier to inquire into the
conditions of employment in the colony and certain allegations of "
sweating "
that had then recently been made, reported that :- " The most
effective mode of bringing about industrial
co-operation and mutual sympathy between
employers and employed, and thus obviating labour conflicts in the
future, is by the establishment of courts of conciliation in
Victoria, whose procedure and awards shall have the sanction and
authority of law." This report led to the passing of a number of
acts which, proving ineffectual, were followed by the Factories and
Shops Act of 1896, passed by the ministry of Mr (afterwards Sir
Alexander)
Peacock. This
measure, together with several subsequent amending acts, of which
the most important became law in 1903, 1905 and 1907, forms a
complete industrial code in which the principle of state regulation
of wages is recognized and established. Its central enactment was
to bring into existence (1) " Special Boards," consisting of an
equal number of representatives of employers and workmen
respectively in any trade, under the
presidency of an independent chairman, and
(2) a Court of Industrial Appeals. A special board may be formed at
the request of any union of employers or of workmen, or on the
initiative of the Labour department. After
hearing evidence, which may be given on oath,
the special board issues a " determination," fixing the minimum
rate of wages to be paid to various classes of workers of both
sexes and different ages in the trade covered by the determination,
including apprentices; and specifying the number of hours disputes
strikes are, on the whole, the most disastrous that it can adopt.
The strikes of the years 1890 and 1892 are just as important on
account of their political consequences as from the direct gains or
losses involved.
As one result of the strike of 1890 a movement was set afoot by
a number of enthusiasts, more visionary than practical, that has
resulted in a measure of more or less disaster. This was the
planting of a colony of communistic per week for which such wages
are payable, with the rates for overtime when those hours are
exceeded. The determination is then gazetted, and it becomes
operative over a specified area, which varies in different cases,
on a date fixed by the board. Either party, or the minister for
Labour, may refer a determination to the court of industrial
appeals, and the court, in the event of a special board failing to
make a determination, may itself be called upon to frame one. The
general administration of the Factories and Shops Acts, to which
the special boards owe their being, is vested in a chief inspector
of factories, subject to the control of the minister of Labour in
matters of policy. Before the end of 1906 fifty-two separate trades
in Victoria had obtained special boards, by whose determinations
their operations were controlled.
A similar system was introduced into South Australia by an act
passed in 1900 amending the Factory Act of 1894, which was the
first legislation of the sort passed in that state.
In Queensland, where the earliest factory legislation dates from
1896, keen parliamentary conflict raged round the pro posal in 1907
to introduce the special boards system for fixing wages. More than
one change of government occurred before the bill became law in
April 1908.
In New South Wales, whose example was followed by Western
Australia, the machinery adopted for fixing the statutory rate of
wages was of a somewhat different type. The model followed in these
two states was not Victoria but New Zealand, where an Industrial
Conciliation and Arbitration Act was passed in 1894. A similar
measure, under the guidance of the
attorney-general, the Hon. B. R. Wise,
was carried after much opposition in New South Wales in 1901, to
remain in force till the 30th of June 1908. By it an arbitration
court was instituted, consisting of a president and assessors
representing the employers' unions and the workers' unions
respectively; in any trade in which a dispute occurs, any union of
workmen or employers registered under the act was given the right
to bring the matter before the arbitration court, and if the court
makes an award, an application may be made to it to make the award
a " common rule," which thereupon becomes binding over the trade
affected, wherever the act applies. The award of the court is thus
the equivalent of the determination of a special board in Victoria,
and deals with the same questions, the most important of which are
the minimum rates of wages and the number of working hours per
week. The act contained stringent provisions forbidding strikes;
but in this respect it failed to effect its purpose, several
strikes occurring in the years following its enactment, in which
there were direct refusals to obey awards.
In the years 1900 and 1902 acts were passed in Western Australia
still more closely modelled on the New Zealand act than was the
above-mentioned statute in New South Wales. Unlike the latter, they
reproduced the institution of district conciliation boards in
addition to the arbitration court; but these boards were a failure
here as they were in New Zealand, and after 1903 they fell into
disuse. In Western Australia, too, the act failed to prevent
strikes taking place. In 1907 a serious strike occurred in the
timber trade, attended by all the usual accompaniments, except
actual disorder, of an industrial conflict.
In all this legislation one of the most hotly contested points
was whether the arbitration court should be given power to lay it
down that workers who were members of a trade union should be
employed in preference to non-unionists. This power
Ad was
given to the tribunal in New South Wales, but was
1904.
withheld in Western Australia. It was the same question that formed
the chief subject of debate over the Federal Conciliation and
Arbitration Act, which, after causing the defeat of more than one
ministry, passed through the Commonwealth parliament in 1904. It
was eventually compromised by giving the power, but only with
safeguarding conditions, to the Federal arbitration court. This
tribunal differs from similar courts in the states inasmuch as it
consists of a single member, called the " president," an officer
appointed by the governor-general from among the justices of the
High Court of Australia. The president has the power to appoint
assessors to advise him on technical points; and considerable
powers of devolution of authority for the purpose of inquiry and
report are conferred upon the court, the main object of which is to
secure settlement by conciliatory methods. The distinctive object
of the Federal Act, as defined in the measure itself, is to provide
machinery for dealing with industrial disputes extending beyond any
one state, examples of which were furnished by the first two
important cases submitted to the court - the one concerning the
merchant marine of Australia, and the other the sheep shearers,
both of which were heard in 1907. An additional duty was thrown on
the Federal arbitration court by the Customs and Excise Tariff Acts
of 1906, in which were embodied the principles known as the " New
Protection." By the Customs Act the duty was raised on imported
agricultural implements, while as a safeguard to the consumer the
maximum prices for the
retail
of the goods were fixed. In order to provide a similar protection
for the artisans employed in the protected industries, an excise
duty was imposed on the home-produced articles, which was to be
remitted in favour of manufacturers who could show that they paid "
fair and reasonable " wages, and complied with certain other
conditions for the benefit of their workmen. The chief authority
for determining whether these conditions are satisfied or not is
the Federal arbitration court.
The same period that saw this legislation adopted was also
marked by the establishment of
old age pensions in the three eastern
states, and also in the Commonwealth. By the Federal Act, passed in
the session of 1908, a
pension of ten shillings a week was granted to
persons of either
sex over
sixty-five years of age, or to persons over sixty who are
incapacitated from earning a living. The Commonwealth legislation
thus made provision for the aged poor in the three states which up
to 1908 had not accepted the principle of old age pensions, and
also for those who, owing to their having resided in more than one
state, were debarred from receiving pension in any.
An important work of the Commonwealth parliament was the passing
of a uniform tariff to supersede the six separate tariffs in force
at the establishment of the Commonwealth,
Tariff but many
other important measures were considered and some passed into law.
During the first six years of federation there were five
ministries; the tenure of office under the threeyearly system was
naturally uncertain, and this uncertainty was reflected in the
proposals of whatever ministry was in office. The great task of
adjusting the financial business of the Commonwealth on a permanent
basis was one of very great difficulty, as the apparent interests
of the states and of the Commonwealth were opposed. Up till 1908 it
had been generally assumed that the constitution required the
treasurer of the Commonwealth to hand over to the states month by
month whatever surplus funds remained in his hands. But in July
1908 a Surplus Revenue Act was passed which was based on a
different interpretation of the constitution. Under this act the
appropriation of these surplus funds to certain
trust purposes in the Federal treasury is held to
be equivalent to payment to the states. The money thus obtained was
appropriated in part to naval defence and harbours, and in part to
the provision of old age pensions under the Federal Old Age Pension
Act of 1908. The act was strongly opposed by the government of
Queensland, and the question was raised as to whether it was based
on a true interpretation of the constitution. The chief external
interest, however, of the new financial policy of the Commonwealth
lay in its relation towards the empire as a whole. At the Imperial
Conference in London in 1907 Mr Deakin, the Commonwealth premier,
was the leading advocate of colonial preference with a view to
imperial commercial union; and though no reciprocal arrangement was
favoured by the Liberal cabinet, who temporarily spoke for the
United Kingdom, the colonial representatives were all agreed in
urging such a policy, and found the Opposition (the Unionist party)
in England prepared to adopt it as part of Mr Chamberlain's tariff
reform movement. In spite of the official rebuff received from the
mother-country, the Australian ministry, in drawing up the new
Federal tariff, gave a substantial preference to British imports,
and thus showed their willingness to go farther. (See the article
BRITISH EMPIRE.) (R. J. M.) GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. - For Physical
Geography: Barton,
Australian Physiography (Brisbane,
1895); Wall,
Physical Geography of Australia (Melbourne,
1883); Taylor,
Geography of New South Wales (Sydney,
1898); Saville
Kent,
The Great
Barrier Reef of Australia (London, 1893); A. Agassiz,
Visit to the Barrier Reef (Cambridge, Mass., 1899); J. P.
Thomson,
The Physical
Geography of Australia (Smithsonian Report, Washington, 1898);
J. W. Gregory,
The Dead Heart of Australia. For Flora:
Maiden,
Useful Native Plants
of Australia (Sydney, 1889); Bentham and Mueller,
Flora
Australiensis (London, 1863-1878); Fitzgerald,
Australian
Orchids (Sydney, 1870-1890); Mueller,
Census of Australian
Plants (Melbourne, 1889). For Fauna: Forbes, " The
Chatham
Islands; their Relation to a former Southern Continent,"
Geographical Journal, vol. ii. (1893); Hedley, " Surviving
Refugees in Austral Lands of Ancient Antarctic Life,"
Royal
Society N. S. Wales, 1895; " The Relation of the Fauna and
Flora of Australia to those of New Zealand,"
Nat. Science
(1893); Tenison-Woods,
The Fish and Fisheries of New South
Wales (Sydney, 1883);
Ogilvy,
Catalogue of Australian Mammals
(Sydney, 1892); Aflalo,
Natural History of Australia
(London, 1896);
Flower and
Lydekker,
Mammals, Living and Extinct (London, 1891); J.
Douglas Ogilby,
Catalogue of the Fishes of New South Wales, 4to (Sydney,
1886). For Statistics and Miscellanea: T. A. Coghlan,
A
Statistical Account of the Seven Colonies of Australasia, 8vo
(Sydney, 1904); G. Collingridge,
The Discovery of
Australia (Sydney, 1895); W.
Epps,
The Land Systems of Australia, 8vo
(London, 1894); Ernest Favenc,
The History of Australasian
Exploration, royal 8vo (Sydney, 1885); R. R. Garran,
The
Coming Commonwealth: a Handbook of Federal Government (Sydney,
1897); George William Rusden,
History of Australia, 3
vols. 8vo (London, 1883); K. Schmeisser,
The Goldfields of
Australasia, 2 vols. (London, 1899); G. F. Scott,
The
Romance of Australian Exploring (London, 1899); H. de R.
Walker,
Australasian Democracy (London, 1897); William
Westgarth,
Half a Century of Australian Progress (London,
1899); T. A. Coghlan and T. T. Ewing,
Progress of Australia in
the 10th Century; G. P. Tregarthen,
Commonwealth of
Australia; Ida Lee,
Early Days of Australia; W. P.
Reeves,
State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand; A.
Metin,
La Socialisme sans doctrine.
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Misc
Timeline
Gillsepie, R. (2002). .Dating the first Australians.^ 
Search
![[2]](http://memory.loc.gov/service/rbc/rbdk/d0404/02951422.jpg){kind=link}