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diff --git a/25976-8.txt b/25976-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..87e4f75 --- /dev/null +++ b/25976-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2730 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peeps At Many Lands: Australia, by Frank Fox + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Peeps At Many Lands: Australia + +Author: Frank Fox + +Illustrator: Percy F. S. Spence (etc.) + +Release Date: July 6, 2008 [EBook #25976] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: AUSTRALIA *** + + + + +Produced by Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + +AUSTRALIA + + +[Illustration: THE NOMAD OF THE AUSTRALIAN INTERIOR] + + +[Illustration: KANGAROO HUNTING. PAGE 47.] + + + + + PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + AUSTRALIA + + BY + + FRANK FOX + + WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + IN COLOUR + + BY + + PERCY F. S. SPENCE, ETC. + + LONDON + ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK + 1911 + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I PAGE + AUSTRALIA, ITS BEGINNING 1 + + CHAPTER II + AUSTRALIA OF TO-DAY 15 + + CHAPTER III + THE NATIVES 33 + + CHAPTER IV + THE ANIMALS AND BIRDS 46 + + CHAPTER V + THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH 63 + + CHAPTER VI + THE AUSTRALIAN CHILD 73 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + KANGAROO-HUNTING _Frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE + SNOWY MOUNTAINS NEAR THE SITE OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL viii + + THE BARRIER OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS 9 + + THE GARDEN STREETS OF ADELAIDE 16 + + COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE 25 + + THE TOWN HALL, SYDNEY 32 + + AUSTRALIAN NATIVES IN CAPTAIN COOK'S TIME 41 + + THE AUSTRALIAN FOREST AT NIGHT--"MOONING" OPOSSUMS 48 + + A SHEEP DROVER 57 + + A HUT IN THE BUSH 64 + + SURF-BATHING--SHOOTING THE BREAKERS 73 + + AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN RIDING TO SCHOOL 80 + + THE NOMAD OF THE AUSTRALIAN INTERIOR _On the cover_ + + _Sketch-Map of Australia on pages vi and vii._ + + + + +[Illustration: Map of Australia] + + +[Illustration: KOOKABURRAS. _Page_ 59.] + + +[Illustration: SNOWY MOUNTAINS NEAR THE SITE OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL. +PAGE 25.] + + + + +AUSTRALIA + +CHAPTER I + +ITS BEGINNING + + A "Sleeping Beauty" land--The coming of the English--Early + explorations--The resourceful Australian. + + +The fairy-story of the Sleeping Beauty might have been thought out by +someone having Australia in his mind. She was the Sleeping Beauty among +the lands of the earth--a great continent, delicately beautiful in her +natural features, wonderfully rich in wealth of soil and of mine, left +for many, many centuries hidden away from the life of civilization, +finally to be wakened to happiness by the courage and daring of English +sailors, who, though not Princes nor even knights in title, were as +noble and as bold as any hero of a fairy-tale. + +How Australia came to be in her curious isolated position in the very +beginning is not quite clear. The story of some of the continents is +told in their rocks almost as clearly as though written in books. But +Australia is very, very old as a continent--much older than Europe or +America or Asia--and its story is a little blurred and uncertain partly +for that reason. + +Look at the map and see its shape--something like that of a pancake with +a big bite out of the north-eastern corner. In the very old days +Australia was joined to those islands on the north--the East Indies--and +through them to Asia; but it was countless ages ago, for the animals and +the plants of Australia have not the least resemblance to those of Asia. +They represent a class quite distinct in themselves. That proves that +for a very long time there has been no land connection between Australia +and Asia; if there had been, the types of flower and of beasts would be +more nearly kindred. There would be tigers and elephants in Australia +and emus in Asia, and the kangaroo and other marsupials would probably +have disappeared. The marsupial, it may be explained, is one of the +mammalian order, which carries its young about in a pouch for a long +time after they are born. With such parental devotion, the marsupials +would have little chance of surviving in any country where there were +carnivorous animals to hunt them down; but Australia, with the exception +of a very few dingoes, had no such animals, so the marsupials survived +there whilst vanishing from all other parts of the earth. + +When Australia was sundered from Asia, probably by some great volcanic +outburst (the East Indies are to this day much subject to terrible +earthquakes and volcanic outbreaks, and not so many years ago a whole +island was destroyed in the Straits of Sunda), the new continent +probably was in the shape somewhat of a ring, with very high mountains +facing the sea, and, where now is the great central plain, a lake or +inland sea. As time wore on, the great mountains were ground down by the +action of the snow and the rain and the wind. The soil which was thus +made was in part carried towards the centre of the ring, and in time the +sea or lake vanished, and Australia took its present form of a great +flat plain, through which flow sluggish rivers--a plain surrounded by a +tableland and a chain of coastal mountains. The natives and the animals +and plants of Australia, when it first became a continent, were very +much the same, in all likelihood, as now. + +Thus separated in some sudden and dramatic way, Australia was quite +forgotten by the rest of the world. In Asia, near by, the Chinese built +up a curious civilization, and discovered, among other things, the use +of the mariner's compass, but they do not seem to have ever attempted to +sail south to what is now known as Australasia. The Japanese, borrowing +culture from the Chinese, framed their beautiful and romantic social +system, and, having a brave and enterprising spirit, became seafarers, +and are known to have reached as far as the Hawaiian Islands, more than +halfway across the Pacific Ocean to America; but they did not come to +Australia. The Indian Empire rose to magnificent greatness; the Empires +of Babylon, of Nineveh, of Persia, came and went. The Greeks, and the +Romans later, penetrated to Hindustan. The Christian era came, and later +the opening up of trade with the East Indies and with China. + +But still Australia slept, in her out-of-the-way corner, apart from the +great streams of human traffic, a rich and beautiful land waiting for +her Fairy Prince to waken her to greatness. There had been, though, some +vague rumours of a great island in the Southern Seas. A writer of Chios +(Greece) 300 years before the Christian era mentions that there existed +an island of immense extent beyond the seas washing Europe, Asia, and +Africa. It is thought that Greek soldiers who had accompanied Alexander +the Great to India had brought rumours from the Indians of this new +land. But if the Indians knew of Australia, there is no trace of their +having visited the continent. + +Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, who explored the East Indies, speaks +of a Java Major as well as a Java Minor, and in that he may refer to +Australia; but he made no attempt to reach the land. Some old maps fill +up the ocean from the East Indies to the South Pole with a vague +continent called Terra Australis; but plainly they were only guessing, +and did not have any real knowledge. + +In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Spanish and Portuguese sailors +pushed on bravely with the work of exploring the East Indies, and some +of their maps of the period give indications of a knowledge of the +existence of the Australian Continent. But the definite discovery did +not come until 1605, when De Quiros and De Torres, Spanish Admirals, +sailed to the East Indies and heard of the southern continent. They +sailed in search of it, but only succeeded in touching at some of the +outlying islands. One of the New Hebrides De Quiros called "Terra +Australis del Espiritu Santo" (the Southern Land of the Holy Ghost), +fancying the island to be Australia. That gave the name "Australia," +which is all that survives to remind us of Spanish exploration. + +In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Dutch sailors set to work to +search for the new southern land, and in 1605, 1616, and 1617 +undoubtedly touched on points of Australia. In 1642 Tasman--from whom +Tasmania, a southern island of Australia, gets its name--made important +discoveries as to the southern coast. He called the island first Van +Diemen's Land, after Maria Van Diemen, the girl whom he loved; but this +name was afterwards changed. Maria Island, off the coast of Tasmania, +still, however, keeps fresh the memory of the Dutch sailor's sweetheart. + +But none of these nations was destined to be the Fairy Prince to waken +Australia out of her long sleep. That privilege was kept for the British +race; we cannot but think happily, for no Spanish or Dutch colony has +ever reached to the greatness and the happiness of an Australia, a +Canada, or a South Africa. It is in the British blood, it seems, to +colonize happily. The gardeners of the British race know how to "plant +out" successfully. They shelter and protect the young trees in their +far-away countries through the perils of infancy, and then let them grow +up in healthy and vigorous independence. This wise method is borrowed +from family life. If a child is either too much coddled, or too much +kept under in its young days, it will rarely grow to the best and most +vigorous manhood or womanhood. British colonies grow into healthy +nations just as British schoolboys grow into healthy men, because they +are, at an early stage, taught to be self-reliant. + +It was not until 1688 that Australia was in any way explored by the +English Captain, William Dampier. His reports on the new land were not +very flattering. He spoke of its dry, sandy soil, and its want of water. +This Sleeping Beauty had a way of pretending to be ugly to the +new-comer. + +From 1769 to 1777 Captain Cook carried on the first thorough British +exploration of Australia, and took possession of it and New Zealand for +the British Crown. In 1788, just a century after its first exploration +by a British seaman, Australia was actually occupied by Great Britain, +"the First Fleet" founding a settlement on the shores of Port Jackson, +by the side of a little creek called the Tank Stream. That was the +beginning of Sydney, at present one of the greatest cities of the +British Empire. + +A great continent had been thus entered. The Sleeping Beauty was aroused +from the slumber of centuries. But very much had yet to be done before +she could "marry the Prince and then live happily ever afterwards." The +story of how that was done, and how Australia was explored and settled, +is one of the most heroic of our British annals. True, no wild animals +or warlike tribes had to be faced; but vast distances of land which of +itself produced little or no food for man, the long waterless stretches, +the savage ruggedness of the mountains, set up obstacles far more +awesome because more strange. Man had to contend, not with wild animals, +whose teeth and claws he might evade, nor with wild men whose weapons he +could overmatch with his own, but with Nature in what seemed always a +hostile and unrelenting mood. It almost seemed that Nature, unwilling to +give up to civilization the last of the lonely lands of the earth, made +a conscious effort to beat back the advance of exploration and +civilization. + +On the little coastal settlement famine was soon felt. The colonists did +not understand how to get crops from the soil. They attempted to follow +the times and the manners of England; but here they were in the +Antipodes, where everything was exactly opposite to English conditions. +There were no natural grain-crops; there were practically no +food-animals good to eat. The kangaroo and wallaby provide nowadays a +delicious soup (made from the tails of the animals), but the flesh of +their bodies is tough and dark and rank. Even so it was in very limited +supply. The early settlers ate kangaroo flesh gladly, but they were not +able to get enough of it to keep them in meat. + +Communication with England, whence all food had to come, was in those +days of sailing-ships slow and uncertain. At different times the first +settlement was in actual danger of perishing from starvation and of +being abandoned in despair at ever making anything useful of a land +which seemed unable to produce even food for white inhabitants. + +Fortunately, those thoughts of despair were not allowed to rule. The +dogged British spirit saved the position. The conquest of Nature in +Australia was perseveringly carried through, and Great Britain has the +reward to-day in the existence of an all-British continent having nearly +5,000,000 of population, who are the richest producers in the world from +the soil. + +[Illustration: THE BARRIER OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. PAGES 8 & 29.] + +After the early settlers had learned with much painful effort that the +coast around Sydney would produce some little grain and fruit and +grass for cattle, there was still another halt in the progress of the +continent. West of Sydney, about forty miles from the coast, stretched +the Blue Mountains, and these it was found impossible to cross. No +passes existed. Though not very lofty, the mountains were savagely +wild. The explorer, following a ridge or a line of valley with +patience for many miles, would come suddenly on a vast chasm; a +cliff-face falling absolutely perpendicularly 1,000 feet or so would +declare "No road here." Nowadays, when the Blue Mountains have been +conquered, and they are traversed by roads and railways, tourists +from all parts of the world find great joy in looking upon these +wonderful gorges; but in the days of the explorers they were the cause +of many disappointments--indeed, of many tragedies. Men escaping from +the prisons (Australia was first used as a reformatory by Great +Britain) would attempt to cross the Blue Mountains on their way, as +they thought, to China and freedom, always to perish miserably in the +wild gorges. + +Finally, the Blue Mountains were conquered by the explorers Blaxland, +Lawson, and Wentworth. Two roads were cut across them, one from Sydney, +one from Windsor, about thirty miles north from Sydney. The passing of +the Blue Mountains opened up to Australia the great tableland, on which +the chief mineral discoveries were to be made, and the vast interior +plains, which were to produce merino wool of such quality as no other +land can equal. + +From that onwards exploration was steadily pushed on. Sometimes the +explorers went out into the wilderness with horses, sometimes with +camels; other tracts of land were explored by boat expeditions, +following the track of one of the slow rivers. The perils always were of +thirst and hunger. Very rarely did the blacks give any serious trouble. +But many explorers perished from privation, such as Burke and Wills (who +led out a great expedition from Melbourne, which was designed to cross +the continent from north to south) and Dr. Leichhardt. Even now there +is some danger in penetrating to some of the wilder parts of the +interior of Australia without a skilful guide, who knows where water can +be found, and deaths from thirst in the Bush are not infrequent. + +One device has saved many lives. The wildest and loneliest part of the +continent is traversed by a telegraph line, which brings the European +cable-messages from Port Darwin, on the north coast, to Adelaide, in the +south. Men lost in the Bush near to that line make for its route and cut +the wire. That causes an interruption on the line; a line-repairer is +sent out from the nearest repairing-station, and finds the lost man +camped near the break. Sometimes he is too late, and finds him dead. + +In the west, around the great goldfields, where water is very scarce, +white explorers have sometimes adopted a way to get help which is far +more objectionable. The natives in those regions are very reluctant to +show the locality of the waterholes. The supply is scanty, and they have +learned to regard the white man as wasteful and inconsiderate in regard +to water. But a white explorer or traveller has been known to catch a +native, and, filling his mouth with salt, to expose him to the heat of +the sun until the tortures of thirst forced him to lead the white party +to a native well. But these are rare dark spots on the picture. The +records of Australian exploration, as a whole, are bright with heroism. + +The early pioneer in Australia--called a "squatter" because he squatted +on the land where he chose--enjoyed a picturesque life. Taking all his +household goods with him, driving his flocks and herds before him, he +moved out into the wilderness looking for a place to settle or "squat." +It was the experience of the "Swiss Family Robinson" made real. The +little community, with its waggons and tents, its horses, oxen, sheep, +dogs, perhaps also with a few poultry in one of the waggons, would have +to live for many months an absolutely self-contained life. The family +and its servants would provide wheelwrights, blacksmiths, carpenters, +veterinary surgeons, cattle-herds, milkers, shearers, cooks, +bridge-builders, and the like. The children brought up under those +conditions won not only fine healthy frames, but an alertness of mind, a +wideness of resource which made them, and their children after them, +fine nation-builders. + +I am tempted, in illustration of this, to quote from a larger work of +mine, "Australia," an instance of my own observation of the "resourceful +Australian": + +"Without touch of cap, or sign of servility, the swagman came up. + +"'Gotter a job, boss?' + +"'No chance; but you can go round and get rations.' + +"'I wanter job pretty bad. Times have been hard. Perhaps you recollect +me--Jim Stone. You had me once working on the Paroo.' + +"It was a blazing hot day in Central Queensland on one of the big cattle +stations out from the railway line, a station which had not yet reached +the dignity of fencing. The boss remembered that Jim Stone "was a good +sort," and that it was forty miles to the next chance of a job. And +there was always something to be done on a station. + +"'All right, Stone. I think I can put you on to something for a month or +two.' + +"'Thanks. Start now?' + +"'Look. I have got a few men on digging tanks, about thirty miles out. +It's north-north-east. You can pick up their camp?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Well, I want you to take a bullock-dray out, with stores, and bring +back anything they want sent back.' + +"'Yes. Where are the bullocks?' + +"'I haven't got a team broken in. But there's old Scarlet-Eye and two +others broken in. You'll pick them up along that little creek there, six +miles out'; he pointed indefinitely into the heat haze on the plain, +where there seemed to be some trees on the horizon. 'Collar them, and +then you'll find the milkers' herd right back of the homestead, only a +few miles. Punch out seven of the biggest and make up your team.' + +"'Yes. Where's ther dray?' + +"'Behind the blacksmith's shed there. By the way, there are no yokes, +but you'll find some bar-iron and some timber at the blacksmith's shed. +Knock out some yokes. I think there's one chain. You can make up another +with some fencing wire.' + +"'Right-oh.' + +"And this Australian casual worker (at 30s. a week and rations) went his +way cheerfully. He had to find some odd bullocks six miles out, in the +flat, grey, illimitable plain; then find the herd of milkers somewhere +else in that vague vastness, and break seven of them to harness; fix up +a dray and make cattle yokes; and then go out into the depths to find a +camp thirty miles out, without a fence or a track, and hardly a tree, to +guide him. + +"He did it all, because to him it was quite ordinary. The +freshly-broken-in cattle had to be kept in the yokes for a week, night +and day, else they would have cleared out. That was the only real +hardship, in his opinion, and the cattle had to suffer that. He was +content to be surveyor, waggon-builder, blacksmith, subduer of beasts, +man of infinite pluck, resource, and energy, for 30s. a week and +rations! And he was a typical sample of the 'back-country Australian.'" + +In the Australian Bush most children can milk a cow, ride a horse, or +harness him into a cart, snare or shoot game, kill a snake, find their +way through the trackless forest by the sun or the stars, and cook a +meal. In the cities, too, they are, though less skilled in such things, +used to do far more for themselves than the average European child. + +After the squatters in Australia came the gold-diggers. Gold was +discovered in Victoria and in New South Wales. At first, strangely +enough, an effort was made to prevent the fact being known that gold was +to be found in Australia. Some of the rulers of the colony feared that +the gold would ruin and not help the country. And certainly in the very +early days of the gold-digging rushes, much harm was done to the settled +industries of the land through everybody rushing away to the diggings. +Farms were abandoned, workshops deserted, the sailors left their ships, +the shepherds their sheep, the shop-keepers their shops--all with the +gold fever. But that early madness soon passed away, and Australia got +the benefit of the gold discoverers in a great increase of population. +Most of those who came to dig gold remained to dig potatoes and other +more certain wealth out of the land. + +Do you remember the tale of the ancient wise man whose two sons were +lazy fellows? He could not get them by any means to work in the +vineyard. As long as his own hands could toil he tended the vineyard, +and maintained his idle sons. But on his death-bed he feared for their +future. So he made them the victims of a pious fraud. "There is a great +sum in gold buried in the vineyard," he told them with his dying breath. +"But I cannot tell you where. You must find that for yourselves." + +Tempted by the promise of quick fortune, the idle sons dug everywhere +in the vineyard to find the buried treasure. They never came across any +actual gold, but the good effect of their digging was such that the +vineyard prospered wonderfully and they grew rich from its fine crops. + +So it was, in a way, with Australia. The gold discoverers did much good +by attracting people to the country in search of gold who, though they +found no gold, developed the other resources of a great country. + +When the yields from the alluvial goldfields decreased there was a +great demand from the out-of-work diggers and others for land for +farming, and the agricultural era began in Australia. Since then the +growth of the country has been sound, and, if a little slow, sure. It +has been slow because the ideal of the people has always been a sound +and a general well-being rather than a too-quick growth. "Slow and +steady" is a good motto for a nation as well as an individual. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AUSTRALIA OF TO-DAY + + The diggings--The Government at Melbourne--The sheep-runs--The + rabbits--The delights of Sydney. + + +If, by good luck, you were to have a trip to Australia now, you would +find, probably, the sea voyage, which takes up five weeks as a rule, a +little irksome. But fancy that over, and imagine yourself safely into +Australia of to-day. Fremantle will be the first place of call. It is +the port of Perth, which is the capital of West Australia. That great +State occupies nearly a quarter of the continent; but its population is +as yet the least important of the continental States, and not very much +ahead of the little island of Tasmania. Still, West Australia is +advancing very quickly. On the north it has great pearl fisheries; +inland it has goldfields, which take second rank in the world's list, +and it is fast developing its agricultural and pastoral riches. + +Very soon it will be possible to leave the steamer at Fremantle and go +by train right across the continent to the Eastern cities. Now you must +travel by steamer to Port Adelaide, for Adelaide, the capital of South +Australia. It is a charming city, surrounded by vineyards, orange +orchards, and almond and olive groves. In the season you may get for a +penny all the grapes that you could possibly eat, and oranges and other +fruit are just as cheap. + +Adelaide has the reputation of being a very "good" city. It was founded +largely by high-minded colonists from Britain, whose main idea was to +seek in the new world a place where poverty and its evils would not +exist. To a very large extent they succeeded. There are no slums in +Adelaide and no starving children. Everywhere is an air of quiet +comfort. + +[Illustration: THE GARDEN STREETS OF ADELAIDE. PAGE 16.] + +From Adelaide you may take the train to complete your trip, the end of +which is, say, Brisbane. Leaving Adelaide, you climb in the train the +pretty Mount Lofty Mountains and then sweep down on to the plains and +cross the Murray River near its mouth. The Murray is the greatest of +Australian rivers. It rises in the Australian Alps, and gathers on its +way to the sea the Murrumbidgee and the Darling tributaries. There is a +curious floating life on these rivers. Nomad men follow along their +banks, making a living by fishing and doing odd jobs on the stations +they pass. They are called "whalers," and follow the life, mainly, I +think, because of a gipsy instinct for roving, since it is not either a +comfortable or profitable existence. On the rivers, too, are all sorts +of curious little colonies, living in barges, and floating down from +town to town. You may find thus floating, little theatres, cinematograph +shows, and even circuses. + +The fisheries of these rivers are somewhat important, the chief fish +caught being the Murray cod. It grows sometimes to a vast size, to the +size almost of a shark; but when the cod is so big its flesh is always +rank and uneatable by Europeans. + +Fishing for a cod is not an occupation calling for very much industry. +The fisherman baits his line, ties it to a stake fixed on the river +bank, and on the stake hangs a bell. Then the fisherman gets under the +shadow of a gum-tree and enjoys a quiet life, reading or just lazing. If +a cod takes the bait the bell will ring, and he will go and collect his +fish, which obligingly catches itself, and does not need any play to +bring it to land. + +A cruel practice is followed to keep these fish fresh until a boat or +train to the city markets is due: a line is passed through the cod's +lip, and it is tethered to a stake in the water near the bank. Thus it +can swim about and keep alive for some time; but the cruelty is great, +and efforts are now being made to stop this tethering of codfish. + +These Australian inland rivers are slow and sluggish, and fish, such as +trout, accustomed to clear running waters, will not live in them. But in +the smaller mountain streams, which feed the big inland rivers, trout +thrive, and as they have been introduced from England and America they +provide good sport to anglers. + +The plain-country through which the big rivers flow is very flat, and is +therefore liable to great floods. Australia has the reputation of being +a very dry country; as a matter of fact, the rainfall over one-third of +its area is greater than that of England. In most places the rainfall +is, however, badly distributed. After long spells of very dry weather +there will come fierce storms, during which the rain sometimes falls at +the rate of an inch an hour. This fact, and the curious physical +formation of the continent, about which you already know, makes it very +liable to floods. + +Great floods of the past have been at Brisbane, the capital of +Queensland, destroying a section of the city; at Bourke (N.S.W.), and at +Gundagai (N.S.W.). In the latter a town was destroyed and many lives +lost. Another flood on the Hunter River (N.S.W.) was marked by the +drowning of the Speaker of the local Parliament. But great loss of human +life is rare; sacrifice of stock is sometimes, however, enormous. Cattle +fare better than sheep, for they will make some wise effort to reach a +point of safety, whilst sheep will, as likely as not, huddle together in +a hollow, not having the sense even to seek the little elevations which +are called "hills," though only raised a few feet above the general +level. + +I recall well a flood in the Narrabri (N.S.W.) district some seventeen +years ago, and its moving perils. The hillocks on which cattle, sheep, +and in some cases human beings, had taken refuge were crowded, too, with +kangaroos, emus, brolgas (a kind of crane), koalas (known as the native +bear), rabbits, and snakes. Mutual hostilities were for a time suspended +by the common danger, though the snakes and the rabbits were rarely +given the advantages of the truce if there were human beings present. An +incident of that flood was that the little township of Terry-hie-hie +(these aboriginal names are strange!) was almost wiped out by +starvation. Beleaguered by the waters, it was cut off from all +communication with the railway and with food-supplies. When the waters +fell, the mud left on these black-soil plains was just as formidable a +barrier. Attempt after attempt to send flour through by horse and +bullock teams failed. It was impossible for thirty horses to get through +with one ton of flour! The siege was only raised when the population of +the little town was on the very verge of starvation. + +After crossing the Murray the train passes through what is known as "the +desert"--a stretch of country covered with mallee scrub (the mallee is a +kind of small gum-tree); but nowadays they are finding out that this +mallee scrub is not hopeless country at all. The scrub is beaten down by +having great rollers drawn over it by horses; that in time kills it. +Then the roots are dug up for firewood, and the land is sown with wheat. +Quite good crops are now being got from the mallee when the rains are +favourable, but in dry seasons the wheat scorches off, and the farmer's +labour is wasted. It is proposed now to carry irrigation channels +through this and similar country. When that is done there will be no +more talk of desert in most parts of Australia. It will be conquered for +the use of man just as the American alkali desert is being conquered. + +Leaving the mallee, the train comes in time to Ballarat, which used to +be the great centre of the gold-mining industry. Round here gold was +discovered in great lumps lying on the ground or just below the roots of +the grass. People rushed from all parts of the world to pick up fortunes +when this was heard of. The road from Melbourne was covered with +waggons, with horsemen, with diggers on foot. Most of them knew nothing +at all about digging, and also lacked the knowledge of how to get along +comfortably under "camping-out" conditions, when every man has to be his +own cook, his own washer-up, his own laundryman, as well as his own +mining labourer. But the best of the men learned quickly how to look +after themselves, to pitch a tent, to cook a meal, to drive a shaft, and +to do without food for long spells when on the search for new +goldfields. Thus they became resourceful and adventurous, and were of +great value afterwards in the community. There is nowadays rather a +tendency in civilized countries to bring children up too softly, to +guard them too much against the little roughnesses of life. Such +experiences as those of the Australian goldfields show how good it is +for men to be taught how to look after themselves under primitive +conditions. + +Life on the Australian goldfields, though wild, was not unruly. There +was never any lynch law, never any "free shooting," as on the American +goldfields. Public order was generally respected, though there were at +first no police. The miners, however, kept up Vigilance Committees, the +main purpose of which was to check thefts. Anyone proved guilty of +theft, or even seriously suspected of pilfering, was simply ordered out +of the camp. + +The Chinese were very early in getting to know of the goldfields in +Australia, and rushed there in great numbers. They were not welcomed, +and there was an exception to the general rule of good order in the +Anti-Chinese riots on the goldfields. The result of these was that +Chinese were prevented by the Government from coming into the country, +except in very small numbers, and on payment of a heavy poll-tax. When +this was done the excitement calmed down, and the Chinese already in the +country were treated fairly enough. They mostly settled down to growing +vegetables or doing laundry-work, though a few still work as miners. + +The objection that the Australians have to the Chinamen and to other +coloured races is that they do not wish to have in the country any +people with whom the white race cannot intermarry, and they wish all +people in Australia to be equal in the eyes of the law and in social +consideration. As you travel through Australia, you will probably learn +to recognize the wisdom of this, and you will get to like the Australian +social idea, which is to carry right through all relations of life the +same discipline as governs a good school, giving respect to those who +are most worthy of it, by conduct and by capacity, and not by riches or +birth. + +We have stayed long enough at Ballarat. Let us move on to +Melbourne--"marvellous Melbourne," as its citizens like to hear it +called. Melbourne is built on the shores of the Yarra, where it empties +into Hudson Bay, and its sea suburbs stretch along the beautiful sandy +shores of that bay. Few European or American children can enjoy such +sea beaches as are scattered all over the Australian coast. They are +beautiful white or creamy stretches of firm sand, curving round bays, +sometimes just a mile in length, sometimes of huge extent, as the Ninety +Miles Beach in Victoria. The water on the Australian coast is usually of +a brilliant blue, and it breaks into white foam as it rolls on to the +shelving sand. Around Carram, Aspendale, Mentone and Brighton, near +Melbourne; at Narrabeen, Manly, Cronulla, Coogee, near Sydney; and at a +hundred other places on the Australian coast, are beautiful beaches. You +may see on holidays hundreds of thousands of people--men, women, and +children--surf-bathing or paddling on the sands. It is quite safe fun, +too, if you take care not to go out too far and so get caught in the +undertow. Sharks are common on the Australian coast, but they will not +venture into the broken water of surf beaches. But you must not bathe, +except in enclosed baths in the harbours, or you run a serious risk of +providing a meal for a voracious shark. + +Sharks are quite the most dangerous foes of man in Australia. There have +been some heroic incidents arising from attacks by sharks on human +beings. An instance: On a New South Wales beach two brothers were +bathing, and they had gone outside of the broken surf water. One was +attacked by a shark. The other went to his rescue, and actually beat the +great fish off, though he lost his arm in doing so. As a rule, however, +the shark kills with one bite, attacking the trunk of its victim, which +it can sever in two with one great snap of its jaws. + +Children on the Australian coast are very fond of the water. They learn +to swim almost as soon as they can walk. Through exposure to the sun +whilst bathing their skin gets a coppery colour, and except for their +Anglo-Saxon eyes you would imagine many Australian youngsters to be +Arabs. + +The beaches of Melbourne are not its only attractions. The city itself +is a very handsome one, and its great parks are planted with fine +English trees. You will see as good oaks and elms and beeches in Fitzroy +Gardens, Melbourne, as in any of the parks of old England. Melbourne, +too, at present, is the political capital of Australia, and here meet +the Australian Parliament. + +Every young citizen of the Empire should know something of the +Commonwealth of Australia and its political institutions, because, as +the idea of Empire grows, it is recognized that all people of British +race, whether Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, or South Africans, +or residents of the Mother Country, should know the whole Empire. + +[Illustration: COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE. PAGE 22.] + +After Australia began to prosper it was found that the continent was too +big to be governed by one Parliament in Sydney, so it split up into +States, each with a constitution and government of its own. These States +were New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, West +Australia, and Tasmania. It was soon seen that a mistake had been made +in splitting up altogether. The States were like children of one family, +all engaged as partners in one business, who, growing up, decided to set +up housekeeping each for himself, but neglected to arrange for some +means by which they could meet together now and again and decide on +matters which were of common interest to all of them. The separated +States of Australia were, all alike, interested in making Australia +great and prosperous, and keeping her safe; but in their hurry to set up +independent housekeeping they forgot to provide for the safeguarding of +that common interest. + +So soon as this was recognized, patriotic men set themselves to put +things right, and the result was a Federation of the States, which is +called the Commonwealth of Australia. The different States are left to +manage for themselves their local affairs, but the big Australian +affairs are managed by the Commonwealth Parliament, which at present +meets in Melbourne, but one day will meet in a new Federal capital to be +built somewhere out in the Bush--that is to say, the wild, empty +country. Some people sneer at the idea of a "Bush capital," but I think, +and perhaps you will think with me, that there is something very +pleasant and very promising of profit in the idea of the country's +rulers meeting somewhere in the pure air of a quiet little city +surrounded by the great Australian forest. And as things are now, the +population of Australia is too much centralized in the big cities, and +it will be a good thing to have another centre of population. + +In this railway trip across the continent you are being introduced to +all the main features of Australian life, so that you will have some +solid knowledge of the conditions of the country, and can, later on, in +chapters which will follow, learn of the Bush, the natives, the birds +and beasts and flowers, the games of Australia. + +Leaving Melbourne, a fast and luxurious train takes you through the +farming districts of Victoria, past many smiling towns, growing rich +from the industry of men who graze cattle, grow wheat and oats and +barley, make butter, or pasture sheep. At Albany the train crosses to +Murray again, this time near to its source, and New South Wales is +entered. + +For many, many miles now the train will run through flat, grassed +country, on which great flocks of sheep graze. This is the Riverina +district, the most notable sheep land in the world. From here, and from +similar plains running all along the western and northern borders of New +South Wales, comes the fine merino wool, which is necessary for +first-class cloth-making. The story of merino wool is one of the +romances of modern industry. Before the days of Australia, Spain was +looked upon as the only country in the world which could produce fine +wool. Spain was not willing that British looms should have any advantage +of her production, and the British woollen manufacturing industry, +confined to the use of coarser staples, languished. Now Australia, and +Australia practically alone, produces the fine wool of the world. +Australia merino wool is finer, more elastic, longer in staple, than any +wool ever dreamed of a century ago, and its use alone makes possible +some of the very fine cloths of to-day. + +This merino wool is purely a product of Australian cleverness in +sheep-breeding. The sheep imported have been improved upon again and +again, quality and quantity of coat being both considered, until to-day +the Australian sheep is the greatest triumph of modern science as +applied to the culture of animals, more wonderful and more useful than +the thoroughbred race-horse. It is only on the hot plains that the +merino sheep flourishes to perfection. If he is brought to cold +hill-country in Australia his coat at once begins to coarsen, and his +wool is therefore not so good. + +As you pass the sheep-runs in the train you will probably notice that +they are divided into paddocks by fine-mesh wire-netting. That is to +keep the rabbits out. The rabbit is accounted rather a desirable little +creature in Great Britain. A rabbit-warren on an estate is a source of +good sport and good food, and the complaint is sometimes of too few +rabbits rather than too many. A boy may keep rabbits as pets with some +enjoyment and some profit. + +In Australia rabbits were first introduced by an emigrant from England, +who wished to give to his farm a home-like air. They spread over the +country with such marvellous rapidity as to become soon a serious +nuisance, then a national danger. Millions of pounds have been spent in +different parts of Australia fighting the rabbit plague; millions more +will yet have to be spent, for though the rabbits are now being kept in +check, constant vigilance is needed to see that they do not get the +upper hand again. The rabbit in Australia increases its numbers very +quickly: the doe will have up to eighty or ninety young in a year. There +is no natural check to this; no winter spell of bitter cold to kill off +the young and feeble. The only limit to the rabbit life is the +food-supply, and that does not fail until the pasturage intended for the +sheep is eaten bare. Not only is the grass eaten, but also the roots of +the grass, and the rabbit is a further nuisance because sheep dislike to +eat grass at which bunny has been nibbling. + +The campaign against the rabbit in Australia has had all the excitement +and much of the misery of a great war. The march inland of the rabbit +was like that of a devastating army. Smiling prosperity was turned into +black ruin. Where there had been green pastures and bleating sheep there +was a bare and dusty plain and starving stock. + +At first wholesale poisoning was tried as a remedy for the rabbit +plague. It inflicted a check, but had the evil of killing off many of +the native birds and animals. There was an idea once of trying to +spread a disease among the rabbits, so as to kill them off quickly, but +that was abandoned. Now the method is to enclose the pasture-lands +within wire-netting, which is rabbit-proof, and within this enclosure to +destroy all logs and the like which provide shelters for the rabbits, to +dig up all their burrows, and to hunt down the rabbit with dogs. The +best of the lands are being thus quite cleared of rabbits. The worst +lands are for the present left to bunny, who has become a source of +income, being trapped and his carcase sent frozen to England, and his +fur utilized for hat-felt. But be sure that if you bring to Australia +your rabbit pets with you from England they will be destroyed before you +land, and you may reckon on having to face serious trouble with the law +for trying to bring them into the country. + +Whilst you have been hearing all this about the rabbit the train has +climbed up from the plains to the Blue Mountains and is rushing down the +coast slope towards Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, the chief +commercial city of Australia, and one of the great ports of the Empire. +Sydney is, I do really think, the pleasantest place in the world for a +child to live in, though two hot, muggy months of the year are to be +avoided for health's sake. + +On the Blue Mountains, as you crossed in the train, you will have seen +wild "gullies," as they are called in Australia--ravines in the hills +which rise abruptly all around, sometimes in wild cliffs and sometimes +in steep wooded slopes. These gullies interlace with one another, one +leading into another, and stretching out little arms in all directions. +Turn into one and try to follow it up, and you never know where it will +end. Well, once upon a time there was a particularly wild one of these +gully systems on the coast hills where Sydney now is. Something sunk the +level of the land suddenly, and the gullies were depressed below +sea-level. The Pacific Ocean heard of this, broke a way through a great +cliff-gate, and that made Sydney Harbour. Entering Sydney by sea, you +come, as the ocean does, through a narrow gate between two lovely +cliffs. Turn sharply to the left, and you are in a maze of blue waters, +fringed with steep hills. On these hills is built Sydney. You may follow +the harbour in all directions, up Iron Cove a couple of miles to +Leichhardt suburb; along the Parramatta River (which is not a river at +all, but one of the long arms of the ocean-filled gully system) ten +miles to the orange orchard country; along the Lane Cove, through wooded +hills, to another orchard tract; or, going in another direction, you may +travel for scores of miles along what is called Middle Harbour, and then +have North Harbour still to explore. In spite of the nearness of the big +city, and the presence here and there of lovely suburbs on the +waterside, the area of Sydney Harbour is so vast, its windings are so +amazing, that you can get in a boat to the wildest and most lovely +scenery in an hour or two. The rocky shores abound in caves, where you +can camp out in dryness and comfort. The Bush at every season of the +year flaunts wildflowers. There are fish to be had everywhere; in many +places oysters; in some places rabbits, hares, and wallabies to be +hunted. Does it not sound like a children's paradise--all this within +reach of a vast city? + +But let us tear ourselves away from Sydney, and go on to Brisbane, +passing on the way through Kurringai Chase, one of the great National +Parks of New South Wales; along the fertile Hawkesbury and Hunter +valleys, which grow Indian corn and lucerne, and oranges and melons, and +men who are mostly over six feet high; up the New England Mountains, +through a country which owes its name to the fact that the high +elevation gives it a climate somewhat like that of England; then into +Queensland along the rich Darling Down studded with wheat-farms, +dairy-farms, and cattle-ranches; and finally to Brisbane, a prospering +semi-tropical town which is the capital of the Northern State of +Queensland. At Brisbane you will be able to buy fine pineapples for a +penny each, and that alone should endear it to your heart. + +Thus you will have seen a good deal of the Australia of to-day. You +might have followed other routes. Coming via Canada, you would reach +Brisbane first. Taking a "British India" boat you would have come down +the north coast of Queensland and seen something of its wonderful +tropical vegetation, its sugar-fields, banana and coffee plantations, +and the meat works which ship abroad the products of the great cattle +stations. + +[Illustration: THE TOWN HALL SYDNEY. PAGE 29.] + +This tropical part of Australia really calls for a long book of its own. +But as it is hardly the Australia of to-day, though it may be the +Australia of the future, we must hurry through its great forests and its +rich plains. There are wild buffalo to be found on these plains, and in +the rivers that flow through them crocodiles lurk. The crocodile is a +very cunning creature. It rests near the surface of the water like a +half-submerged log waiting for a horse or an ox or a man to come into +the water. Then a rush and a meal. + +If, instead of coming along the north, you had travelled via South +Africa you might have landed first at Hobart and seen the charms of dear +little Tasmania, a land of apple-orchards and hop-gardens, looking like +the best parts of Kent. But you have been introduced to a good deal of +Australia and heard much of its industries and its history. It is time +now to talk of savages, and birds, and beasts, and games, and the like. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE NATIVES + + A dwindling race; their curious weapons--The Papuan + tree-dwellers--The cunning witch-doctors. + + +The natives of Australia were always few in number. The conditions of +the country secured that Australia, kept from civilization for so long, +is yet the one land of the world which, whilst capable of great +production with the aid of man's skill, is in its natural state +hopelessly sterile. Australia produced no grain of any sort naturally; +neither wheat, oats, barley nor maize. It produced practically no edible +fruit, excepting a few berries, and one or two nuts, the outer rind of +which was eatable. There were no useful roots such as the potato, the +turnip, or the yam, or the taro. The native animals were few and just +barely eatable, the kangaroo, the koala (or native bear) being the +principal ones. In birds alone was the country well supplied, and they +were more beautiful of plumage than useful as food. Even the fisheries +were infrequent, for the coast line, as you will see from the map, is +unbroken by any great bays, and there is thus less sea frontage to +Australia than to any other of the continents, and the rivers are few in +number. + +Where the land inhabited by savages is poor in food-supply their number +is, as a rule, small and their condition poor. It is not good for a +people to have too easy times; that deprives them of the incentive to +work. But also it is not good for people who are backward in +civilization to be kept to a land which treats them too harshly; for +then they never get a fair chance to progress in the scale of +civilization. The people of the tropics and the people near the poles +lagged behind in the race for exactly opposite but equally powerful +reasons. The one found things too easy, the other found things too hard. +It was in the land between, the Temperate Zone, where, with proper +industry, man could prosper, that great civilizations grew up. + +The Australian native had not much to complain of in regard to his +climate. It was neither tropical nor polar. But the unique natural +conditions of his country made it as little fruitful to an uncivilized +inhabitant as was Lapland. When Captain Cook landed at Botany Bay +probably there were not 500,000 natives in all Australia. And if the +white man had not come, there probably would never have been any +progress among the blacks. As they were then they had been for countless +centuries, and in all likelihood would have remained for countless +centuries more. They had never, like the Chinese, the Hindus, the +Peruvians, the Mexicans, evolved a civilization of their own. There was +not the slightest sign that they would be able to do so in the future. +If there was ever a country on earth which the white man had a right to +take on the ground that the black man could never put it to good use, it +was Australia. + +Allowing that, it is a pity to have to record that the early treatment +of the poor natives of Australia was bad. The first settlers to +Australia had learned most of the lessons of civilization, but they had +not learned the wisdom and justice of treating the people they were +supplanting fairly. The officials were, as a rule, kind enough; but some +classes of the new population were of a bad type, and these, coming into +contact with the natives, were guilty of cruelties which led to +reprisals and then to further cruelties, and finally to a complete +destruction of the black people in some districts. + +In Tasmania, for instance, where the blacks were of a fine robust type, +convicts in the early days, escaping to the Bush, by their cruelties +inflamed the natives to hatred of the white disturbers, and outrages +were frequent. The state of affairs got to be so bad that the Government +formed the idea of capturing all the natives of Tasmania and putting +them on a special reserve on Tasman Peninsula. That was to be the black +man's part of the country, where no white people would be allowed. The +help of the settlers was enlisted, and a great cordon was formed around +the whole island, as if it were to be beaten for game. The cordon +gradually closed in on Tasman Peninsula after some weeks of "beating" +the forests. It was found, then, that one aboriginal woman had been +captured, and that was all. Such a result might have been foreseen. +Tasmania is about as large as Scotland. Its natural features are just as +wild. The cordon did not embrace 2,000 settlers. The idea of their being +able to drive before them a whole native race familiar with the Bush was +absurd. + +After that the old conditions ruled in Tasmania. Blacks and whites were +in constant conflict, and the black race quickly perished. To-day there +is not a single member of that race alive, Truganini, its last +representative, having died about a quarter of a century ago. + +On the mainland of Australia many blacks still survive; indeed, in a few +districts of the north, they have as yet barely come into contact with +the white race. A happier system in dealing with them prevails. The +Government are resolute that the blacks shall be treated kindly, and +aboriginal reserves have been formed in all the States. One hears still +of acts of cruelty in the back-blocks (as the far interior of Australia +is called), but, so far as the Government can, it punishes the +offenders. In several of the States there is an official known as the +Protector of the Aborigines, and he has very wide powers to shield these +poor blacks from the wickedness of others, and from their own weakness. +In the Northern States now, the chief enemies of the blacks are Asiatics +from the pearl-shelling fleets, who land in secret and supply the blacks +with opium and drink. When the Commonwealth Navy, now being +constructed, is in commission, part of its duty will be to patrol the +northern coast and prevent Asiatics landing there to victimize the +blacks. + +The official statistics of the Commonwealth reported, in regard to the +aborigines, in the year 1907: + +"In Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia, on the other +hand, there are considerable numbers of natives still in the 'savage' +state, numerical information concerning whom is of a most unreliable +nature, and can be regarded as little more than the result of mere +guessing. Ethnologically interesting as is this remarkable and rapidly +disappearing race, practically all that has been done to increase our +knowledge of them, their laws, habits, customs, and language, has been +the result of more or less spasmodic and intermittent effort on the part +of enthusiasts either in private life or the public service. Strange to +say, an enumeration of them has never been seriously undertaken in +connection with any State census, though a record of the numbers who +were in the employ of whites, or living in contiguity to the settlements +of whites, has usually been made. As stated above, various guesses at +the number of aboriginal natives at present in Australia have been made, +and the general opinion appears to be that 150,000 may be taken as a +rough approximation to the total. It is proposed to make an attempt to +enumerate the aboriginal population of Australia in connection with the +first Commonwealth Census to be taken in 1911." + +A very primitive savage was the Australian aboriginal. He had no +architecture, but in cold or wet weather built little break-winds, +called mia-mias. He had no weapons of steel or any other metal. His +spears were tipped with the teeth of fish, the bones of animals, and +with roughly sharpened flints. He had no idea of the use of the bow and +arrow, but had a curious throwing-stick, which, working on the principle +of a sling, would cast a missile a great distance. These were his +weapons--rough spears, throwing-sticks, and clubs called nullahs, or +waddys. (I am not sure that these latter are original native words. The +blacks had a way of picking up white men's slang and adding it to their +very limited vocabulary; thus the evil spirit is known among them as the +"debbil-debbil.") Another weapon the aboriginal had, the boomerang, a +curiously curved missile stick which, if it missed the object at which +it was aimed, would curve back in the air and return to the feet of the +thrower; thus the black did not lose his weapon. The boomerang shows an +extraordinary knowledge of the effects of curves on the flight of an +object; it is peculiar to the Australian natives, and proves that they +had skill and cunning in some respects, though generally low in the +scale of human races. + +The Australian aboriginals were divided into tribes, and these tribes, +when food supplies were good, amused themselves with tribal warfare. +From what can be gathered, their battles were not very serious affairs. +There was more yelling and dancing and posing than bloodshed. The braves +of a tribe would get ready for battle by painting themselves with red, +yellow, and white clay in fantastic patterns. They would then hold +war-dances in the presence of the enemy; that, and the exchange of +dreadful threats, would often conclude a campaign. But sometimes the +forces would actually come to blows, spears would be thrown, clubs used. +The wounds made by the spears would be dreadfully jagged, for about half +a yard of the end of the spear was toothed with bones or fishes' teeth. +But the black fellows' flesh healed wonderfully. A wound that would kill +any European the black would plaster over with mud, and in a week or so +be all right. + +Duels between individuals were not uncommon among the natives, and even +women sometimes settled their differences in this way. A common method +of duelling was the exchange of blows from a nullah. One party would +stand quietly whilst his antagonist hit him on the head with a club; +then the other, in turn, would have a hit, and this would be continued +until one party dropped. It was a test of endurance rather than of +fighting power. + +The women of the aboriginals were known as gins, or lubras, the children +as picaninnies--this last, of course, not an aboriginal name. The women +were not treated very well by their lords: they had to do all the +carrying when on the march. At mealtimes they would sit in a row behind +the men. The game--a kangaroo, for instance--would be roughly roasted at +the camp fire with its fur still on. The men would devour the best +portions and throw the rest over their shoulders to the waiting women. + +Fish was a staple article of diet for the Australian natives. Wherever +there were good fishing-places on the coast or good oyster-beds powerful +tribes were camped, and on the inland rivers are still found weirs +constructed by the natives to trap fish. So far as can be ascertained, +the Australian native was rarely if ever a cannibal. His neighbours in +the Pacific Ocean were generally cannibals. Perhaps the scanty +population of the Australian continent was responsible for the absence +of cannibalism; perhaps some ethical sense in the breasts of the +natives, who seem to have always been, on the whole, good-natured and +little prone to cruelty. + +[Illustration: THE AUSTRALIAN NATIVES IN CAPTAIN COOK'S TIME. PAGE 34.] + +The religious ideas of these natives were very primitive. They believed +strongly in evil spirits, and had various ceremonial dances and +practices of witchcraft to ward off the influence of these. But they had +little or no conception of a Good Spirit. Their idea of future happiness +was, after they had come into contact with the whites: "Fall down black +fellow, jump up white fellow." Such an idea of heaven was, of course, an +acquired one. What was their original notion on the subject is not at +all clear. The Red Indians of America had a very definite idea of a +future happy state. The aboriginals of Australia do not seem to have +been able to brighten their poor lives with such a hope. + +Various books have been written about the folklore of the Australian +aboriginals, but most of the stories told as coming from the blacks seem +to me to have a curious resemblance to the stories of white folk. A +legend about the future state, for instance, is just Bunyan's "Pilgrim's +Progress" put crudely to fit in with Australian conditions. I may be +quite wrong in this, but I think that most of the folk-stories coming +from the natives are just their attempts to imitate white-man stories, +and not original ideas of their own. The conditions or life in Australia +for the aboriginal were so harsh, the struggle for existence was so +keen, that he had not much time to cultivate ideas. Life to him was +centred around the camp-fire, the baked 'possum, and a few crude tribal +ceremonies. + +Usually the Australian black is altogether spoilt by civilization. He +learns to wear clothes, but he does not learn that clothes need to be +changed and washed occasionally, and are not intended for use by day and +night. He has an insane veneration for the tall silk hat which is the +badge of modern gentility, and, given an old silk hat, he will never +allow it off his head. He quickly learns to smoke and to drink, and, +when he comes into contact with the Chinese, to eat opium. He cannot be +broken into any steady habits of industry, but where by wise kindness +the black fellow has been kept from the vices of civilization he is a +most engaging savage. Tall, thin, muscular, with fine black beard and +hair and a curiously wide and impressive forehead, he is not at all +unhandsome. He is capable of great devotion to a white master, and is +very plucky by daylight, though his courage usually goes with the fall +of night. He takes to a horse naturally, and some of the finest riders +in Australia are black fellows. + +An attempt is now being made to Christianize the Australian blacks. It +seems to prosper if the blacks can be kept away from the debasing +influence of bad whites. They have no serious vices of their own, very +little to unlearn, and are docile enough. In some cases black children +educated at the mission schools are turning out very well. But, on the +other hand, there are many instances of these children conforming to the +habits of civilization for some years and then suddenly feeling "the +call of the wild," and running away into the Bush to join some nomad +tribe. + +It is not possible to be optimistic about the future of the Australian +blacks. The race seems doomed to perish. Something can be done to +prolong their life, to make it more pleasant; but they will never be a +people, never take any share in the development of the continent which +was once their own. + +A quite different type of native comes under the rule of the Australian +Commonwealth--the Papuan. Though Papua, or New Guinea, as it was once +called, is only a few miles from the north coast of Australia, its race +is distinct, belonging to the Polynesian or Kanaka type, and resembling +the natives of Fiji and Tahiti. + +Papua is quite a tropical country, producing bananas, yams, taro, sago, +and cocoa-nuts. The natives, therefore, have always had plenty of food, +and they reached a higher stage of civilization than the Australian +aborigines. But their food came too easily to allow them to go very far +forward. "Civilization is impossible where the banana grows," some +observer has remarked. He meant that since the banana gave food without +any culture or call on human energy, the people in banana-growing +countries would be lazy, and would not have the stimulus to improve +themselves that is necessary for progress. To get a good type of man he +must have the need to work. + +The Papuan, having no need of industry, amused himself with head-hunting +as a national sport. Tribes would invade one another's districts and +fight savage battles. The victors would eat the bodies of the +vanquished, and carry home their heads as trophies. A chief measured his +greatness by the number of skulls he had to adorn his house. + +Since the British came to Papua head-hunting and cannibalism have been +forbidden. But all efforts to instil into the minds of the Papuan a +liking for work have so far failed. So the condition of the natives is +not very happy. They have lost the only form of exercise they cared for, +and sloth, together with contact with the white man, has brought to them +new and deadly diseases. Several missionary bodies are working to +convert the Papuan to Christianity, and with some success. + +The Papuan builds houses and temples. His tree-dwellings are very +curious. They are built on platforms at the top of lofty palm-trees. +Probably the Papuan first designed the tree-dwelling as a refuge from +possible enemies. Having climbed up to his house with the aid of a rope +ladder and drawn the ladder up after him, he was fairly safe from +molestation, for the long, smooth, branchless trunks of the palm-trees +do not make them easy to scale. In time the Papuan learned the +advantages of the tree-dwelling in marshy ground, and you will find +whole villages on the coast built of trees. Herodotus states of the +ancient Egyptians that in some parts they slept on top of high towers to +avoid mosquitoes and the malaria that they brought. The Papuan seems to +have arrived at the same idea. + +Sorcery is a great evil among the Papuans. In every village almost, some +crafty man pretends to be a witch and to have the power to destroy those +who are his enemies. This is a constant thorn in the side of the +Government official and the missionary. The poor Papuan goes all his +days beset by the Powers of Darkness. The sorcerer, the "pourri-pourri" +man, can blast him and his pigs, crops, family (that is the Papuan +order of valuation) at will. The sorcerer is generally an old man. He +does not, as a rule, deck himself in any special garb, or go through +public incantations, as do most savage medicine-men. But he hints and +threatens, and lets inference take its course, till eventually he +becomes a recognized power, feared and obeyed by all. Extortion, false +swearing, quarrels and murders, and all manner of iniquity, follow in +his train. No native but fears him, however complete the training and +education of civilization. For the Papuan never thinks of death, plague, +pestilence or famine as arising from natural causes. Every little +misfortune (much more every great one) is credited to a "pourri-pourri" +or magic. The Papuan, when he comes "under the Evil Eye" of the +witch-doctor, will wilt away and die, though, apparently, he has nothing +at all the matter with him; and since Europeans are apt to suffer from +malarial fever in Papua, the witch-doctors are prompt to put this down +to their efforts, and so persuade the natives that they have power even +over Europeans. + +A gentleman who was a resident magistrate in Papua tells an amusing tale +of how one witch-doctor was very properly served. "A village constable +of my acquaintance, wearied with the attentions of a magician of great +local repute, who had worked much harm with his friends and relations, +tied him up with rattan ropes, and sank him in 20 feet of water against +the morning. He argued, as he explained at his trial for murder, 'If +this man is the genuine article, well and good, no harm done. If he is +not--well, it's a good riddance!' On repairing to the spot next morning, +and pulling up his night-line, he found that the magician had failed to +'make his magic good,' and was quite dead. The constable's punishment +was twelve months' hard labour. It was a fair thing to let him off +easily, as in killing a witch-doctor he had really done the community a +service." + +The future of the Papuan is more hopeful than that of the Australian +aboriginal, and he may be preserved in something near to his natural +state if means can be found to make him work. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ANIMALS AND BIRDS + + The kangaroo--The koala--The bulldog ant--Some quaint and + delightful birds--The kookaburra--Cunning crows and cockatoo. + + +Australia has most curious animals, birds, and flowers. This is due to +the fact that it is such an old, old place, and has been cut off so long +from the rest of the world. The types of animals that lived in Europe +long before Rome was built, before the days, indeed, of the Egyptian +civilization, animals of which we find traces in the fossils of very +remote periods--those are the types living in Australia to-day. They +belong to the same epoch as the mammoth and the great flying lizards and +other creatures of whom you may learn something in museums. Indeed, +Australia, as regards its fauna, may be considered as a museum, with the +animals of old times alive instead of in skeleton form. + +The kangaroo is always taken as a type of Australian animal life. When +an Australian cricket team succeeds in vanquishing in a Test Match an +English one (which happens now and again), the comic papers may be +always expected to print a picture of a lion looking sad and sorry, and +a kangaroo proudly elate. The kangaroo, like practically all Australian +animals, is a marsupial, carrying its young about in a pouch after their +birth until they reach maturity. The kangaroo's forelegs are very small; +its hindlegs and its tail are immensely powerful, and these it uses for +progression, rushing with huge hops over the country. There are very +many animals which may be grouped as kangaroos, from the tiny kangaroo +rat, about the size of an English water-rat, to the huge red kangaroo, +which is over six feet high and about the weight of a sucking calf. The +kangaroo is harmless and inoffensive as a rule, but it can inflict a +dangerous kick with its hindlegs, and when pursued by dogs or men and +cornered, the "old man" kangaroo will sometimes fight for its life. Its +method is to take a stand in a water-hole or with its back to a tree, +standing on its hindlegs and balanced on its tail. When a dog approaches +it is seized in the kangaroo's forearms and held under water or torn to +pieces. Occasionally men's lives have been lost through approaching +incautiously an old man kangaroo. + +The kangaroo's method of self-defence has been turned to amusing account +by circus-proprietors. The "boxing kangaroo" was at one time quite a +common feature at circuses and music-halls. A tame kangaroo would have +its forefeet fitted with boxing-gloves. Then when lightly punched by its +trainer, it would, quite naturally, imitate the movements of the boxer, +fending off blows and hitting out with its forelegs. One boxing kangaroo +I had a bout with was quite a clever pugilist. It was very difficult to +hit the animal, and its return blows were hard and well directed. + +The different sorts of kangaroo you may like to know. There is the +kangaroo rat, very small; the "flying kangaroo," a rare animal of the +squirrel species, but marsupial, which lives in trees; the wallaby, the +wallaroo, the paddy-melon (medium varieties of kangaroo); the grey and +the red kangaroo, the last the biggest and finest of the species. + +The kangaroo, as I have said, is not of much use for meat. Its flesh is +very dark and rank, something like that of a horse. However, chopped up +into a fine sausage-meat, with half its weight of fat bacon, kangaroo +flesh is just eatable. The tail makes a very rich soup. The skin of the +kangaroo provides a soft and pliant leather which is excellent for +shoes. Kangaroo furs are also of value for rugs and overcoats. + +[Illustration: THE AUSTRALIAN FOREST AT NIGHT "MOONING" OPOSSUMS. +PAGES 49 & 71.] + +Of tree-inhabiting animals the chief in Australia is the 'possum (which +is not really an opossum, but is somewhat like that American rodent, and +so got its name), and the koala, or native bear. Why this little animal +was called a "bear" it is hard to say, for it is not in the least like a +bear. It is about the size of a very large and fat cat, is covered with +a very thick, soft fur, and its face is shaped rather like that of an +owl, with big saucer-eyes. + +The koala is the quaintest little creature imaginable. It is quite +harmless, and only asks to be let alone and allowed to browse on +gum-leaves. Its flesh is uneatable except by an aboriginal or a victim +to famine. Its fur is difficult to manipulate, as it will not lie flat, +so the koala should have been left in peace. But its confiding and +somewhat stupid nature, and the senseless desire of small boys and +"children of larger growth" to kill something wild just for the sake of +killing, has led to the koala being almost exterminated in many places. +Now it is protected by the law, and may get back in time to its old +numbers. I hope so. There is no more amusing or pretty sight than that +of a mother koala climbing sedately along a gum-tree limb, its young +ones riding on it pick-a-back, their claws dug firmly into its soft fur. + +The 'possum is much hunted for its fur. The small black 'possum found in +Tasmania and in the mountainous districts is the most valuable, its fur +being very close and fine. Dealers in skins will sometimes dye the grey +'possum's skin black and trade it off as Tasmanian 'possum. It is a +trick to beware of when buying furs. Bush lads catch the 'possum with +snares. Finding a tree, the scratched bark of which tells that a 'possum +family lives upstairs in one of its hollows, they fix a noose to the +tree. The 'possum, coming down at night to feed or to drink, is caught +in the noose. Another way of getting 'possum skins is to shoot the +little creatures on moonlight nights. (The 'possum is nocturnal in its +habits, and sleeps during the day.) When there is a good moon the +'possums may be seen as they sit on the boughs of the gum-trees, and +brought down with a shot-gun. + +Besides its human enemies, the 'possum has the 'goanna (of which more +later) to contend with. The 'goanna--a most loathsome-looking +lizard--can climb trees, and is very fond of raiding the 'possum's home +when the young are there. Between the men who want its coat and the +'goannas who want its young the 'possum is fast being exterminated. + +Two other characteristic Australian animals you should know about. The +wombat is like a very large pig; it lives underground, burrowing vast +distances. The wombat is a great nuisance in districts where there are +irrigation canals; its burrows weaken the banks of the water-channels, +and cause collapses. The dugong is a sea mammal found on the north coast +of Australia. It is said to be responsible for the idea of the mermaid. +Rising out of the water, the dugong's figure has some resemblance to +that of a woman. + +Then there is the bunyip--or, rather, there isn't the bunyip, so far as +we know as yet. The bunyip is the legendary animal of Australia. It is +supposed to be of great size--as big as a bullock--and of terrible +ferocity. The bunyip is represented as living in lakes and marshes, but +it has never been seen by any trustworthy observer. The blacks believe +profoundly in the bunyip, and white children, when very young, are +scared with bunyip tales. There may have been once an animal answering +to its description in Australia; if so, it does not seem to have +survived. + +In Tasmania, however, are found, though very rarely, two savage and +carnivorous marsupials called the Tasmanian tiger and the Tasmanian +devil. The tiger is almost as large as the female Bengal tiger, and has +a few little stripes near its tail, from which fact it gets its name. +The Tasmanian tiger will create fearful havoc if it gets among sheep, +killing for the sheer lust of killing. At one time a price of £100 was +put on the head of the Tasmanian tiger. As settlement progressed it +became rarer and rarer, and I have not heard of one having been seen for +some years. The Tasmanian devil is a marsupial somewhat akin to the wild +cat, and of about the same size. It is very ferocious, and has been +known to attack man, springing on him from a tree branch. The Tasmanian +devil is likewise becoming very rare. + +The existence of these two animals in Tasmania and not in Australia +shows that that island has been a very long time separated from the +mainland. + +Australia is very well provided with serpents--rather too well +provided--and the Bush child has to be careful in regard to putting his +hand into rabbit burrows or walking barefoot, as there are several +varieties of venomous snake. But the snakes are not at all the great +danger that some imagine. You might live all your life in Australia and +never see one; but in a few country parts it has been found necessary to +enclose the homesteads on the stations with snake-proof wire-fencing, so +as to make some place of safety in which young children may play. The +most venomous of Australian snakes are the death-adder, fortunately a +very sluggish variety; the tiger-snake, a most fierce serpent, which, +unlike other snakes, will actually turn and pursue a man if it is +wounded or angered; the black snake, a handsome creature with a vivid +scarlet belly; and the whip-snake, a long, thin reptile, which may be +easily mistaken for a bit of stick, and is sometimes picked up by +children. But no Australian snake is as deadly as the Indian jungle +snakes, and it is said that the bite of no Australian snake can cause +death if the bite has been given through any cloth. So the only real +danger is in walking through the Bush barefooted, or putting the hand +into holes where snakes may be lurking. + +Some of the non-venomous snakes of Australia are very handsome, the +green tree-snake and the carpet-snake (a species of python) for +examples. The carpet-snake is occasionally kept in the house or in the +barn to destroy mice and other small vermin. + +Lizards in great variety are found in Australia, the chief being one +incorrectly called an iguana, which colloquial slang has changed to +'goanna. The 'goanna is an altogether repulsive creature. It feasts on +carrion, on the eggs of birds, on birds themselves, on the young of any +creature. Growing to a great size--I have seen one 9 feet long and as +thick in the body as a small dog--the 'goanna looks very dangerous, and +it will bite a man when cornered. Though not venomous in the strict +sense of the word, the 'goanna's bite generally causes a festering wound +on account of the loathsome habits of the creature. The Jew-lizard and +the devil-lizard are two other horrid-looking denizens of the Australian +forest, but in their cases an evil character does not match an evil +face, for they are quite harmless. + +Spiders are common, but there is, so far as I know, only one dangerous +one--a little black spider with a red spot on its back. Large spiders, +called (incorrectly) tarantulas, credited by some with being poisonous, +come into the houses. But they are really not in any way dangerous. I +knew a man who used to keep tarantulas under his mosquito-nets so that +they might devour any stray mosquitoes that got in. The example is +hardly worth following. The Australian tarantula, though innocent of +poison, is a horrible object, and would, I think, give you a bad fright +if it flopped on to your face. + +Australia is rich in ants. There is one specially vicious ant called the +bulldog ant, because of its pluck. Try to kill the bulldog ant with a +stick, and it will face you and try to bite back until the very last +gasp, never thinking of running away. The bulldog ant has a liking for +the careless picnicker, whom she--the male ant, like the male bee, is +not a worker--bites with a fierce energy that suggests to the victim +that his flesh is being torn with red-hot pincers. I have heard it said +that but for the fact that Australia is so large an island, a great +proportion of its population would by this time have been lost through +bounding into the surrounding sea when bitten by bulldog ants. It is +wise when out for a picnic in Australia to camp in some spot away from +ant-beds, for the ant, being such an industrious creature, seems to take +a malicious delight in spoiling the day for pleasure-seekers. + +In one respect, the ant, unwillingly enough, contributes to the pleasure +and amusement of the Australian people. In the dry country it would not +be possible to keep grass lawns for tennis. But an excellent substitute +has been found in the earth taken from ant-beds. This earth, which has +been ground fine by the industrious little insects, makes a beautifully +firm tennis-court. + +It is not possible to leave the ant without mention of the termite, or +white ant, which is very common and very mischievous in most parts of +Australia. A colony of termites keeps its headquarters underground, and +from these headquarters it sends out foraging expeditions to eat up all +the wood in the neighbourhood. If you build a house in Australia, you +must be very careful indeed that there is no possibility of the termites +being able to get to its timbers. Otherwise the joists will be eaten, +the floors eaten, even the furniture eaten, and one day everything that +is made of wood in the house will collapse. All the mischief, too, will +have been concealed until the last moment. A wooden beam will look to be +quite sound when really its whole heart has been eaten out by the +termites. Nowadays the whole area on which a house is to be raised is +covered with cement or with asphalt, and care taken that no timber +joists are allowed to touch the earth and thus give entry to the +termites. Fortunately, these destructive insects cannot burrow through +brick or stone. + +In the Northern Territory there are everywhere gigantic mounds raised by +these termites, long, narrow, high, and always pointing due north and +south. You can tell infallibly the points of the compass from the mounds +of this white ant, which has been called the "meridian termite." + +Australia has a wild bee of her own (of course, too, there are European +bees introduced by apiarists, distilling splendid honey from the wild +flowers of the continent). The aborigines had an ingenious way of +finding the nests of the wild bee. They would catch a bee, preferably at +some water-hole where the bees went to drink, and fix to its body a +little bit of white down. The bee would be then released, and would fly +straight for home, and the keen-eyed black would be able to follow its +flight and discover the whereabouts of its hive--generally in the hollow +of a tree. The Australian black, having found a hive, would kill the +bees with smoke and then devour the whole nest, bees, honeycomb, and +honey. + +Australian birds are very numerous and very beautiful. The famous +bird-of-paradise is found in several varieties in Papua and other +islands along Australia's northern coast. The bird-of-paradise was +threatened with extinction on account of the demand for its plumes for +women's hats. So the Australian Government has recently passed +legislation to protect this most beautiful of all birds, which on the +tiniest of bodies carries such wonderful cascades of plumage, silver +white in some cases, golden brown in others. + +[Illustration: A SHEEP DROVER. PAGE 26.] + +Some very beautiful parrots flash through the Australian forest. It +would not be possible to tell of all of them. The smallest, which is +known as the grass parrakeet, or "the love-bird," is about the size of a +sparrow. I notice it in England carried around by gipsies and trained to +pick out a card which "tells you your fortune." From that tiny little +green bird the range of parrots runs up to huge fowl with feathers of +all the colours of the rainbow. There are two fine cockatoos also in +Australia--the white with a yellow crest, and the black, which has a +beautiful red lining to its sable wings. A flock of black cockatoos in +flight gives an impression of a sunset cloud, its under surface shot +with crimson. + +Cockatoos can be very destructive to crops, especially to maize, so the +farmers have declared war upon them. The birds seem to be able to hold +their own pretty well in this campaign, for they are of wonderful +cunning. When a crowd of cockatoos has designs on a farmer's +maize-patch, the leader seems to prospect the place thoroughly; he acts +as though he were a general, providing a safe bivouac for an army; he +sets sentinels on high trees commanding a view of all points of danger. +Then the flock of cockatoos settles on the maize and gorges as fast as +it can. If the farmer or his son tries to approach with a gun, a +sentinel cockatoo gives warning and the whole flock clears out to a +place of safety. As soon as the danger is over they come back to the +feast. + +Even more cunning is the Australian crow. It is a bird of prey and +perhaps the best-hated bird in the world. An Australian bushman will +travel a whole day to kill a crow. For he has, at the time when the +sheep were lambing, or when, owing to drought, they were weak, seen the +horrible cruelties of the crow. This evil bird will attack weak sheep +and young lambs, tearing out their eyes and leaving them to perish +miserably. There have even been terrible cases where men lost in the +Bush and perishing of thirst have been attacked by crows and have been +found still alive, but with their eyes gone. + +It is no wonder that there is a deadly feud between man and crow. But +the crow is so cunning as to be able to overmatch man's superior +strength. A crow knows when a man is carrying a gun, and will keep out +of range then; if a man is without a gun the crow will let him approach +quite near. One can never catch many crows in the same district with the +same device; they seem to learn to avoid what is dangerous. Very rarely +can they be poisoned, no matter how carefully the bait is prepared. + +Bushmen tell all sorts of stories of the cunning of the crow. One is +that of a man who suffered severely from a crow's depredations on his +chickens. He prepared a poisoned bait and noticed the bird take it, but +not devour it; that crow carefully took the poisoned tit-bit and put it +in front of the man's favourite dog, which ate it, and was with +difficulty saved from death! Another story is that of a man who thought +to get within reach of a crow by taking out a gun, lying down under a +tree, and pretending to be dead. True enough, the crow came up and +hopped around, as if waiting for the man to move, and so to see if he +were really dead. After awhile, the crow, to make quite sure, perched +on a branch above the man's head and dropped a piece of twig on to his +face! It was at this stage that the man decided to be alive, and, taking +up his gun, shot the crow. + +There may be some exaggeration in the bushmen's tales of the crow's +cunning, but there is quite enough of ascertained fact to show that the +bird is as devilish in its ingenuity as in its cruelty. In most parts of +Australia there is a reward paid for every dead crow brought into the +police offices. Still, in spite of constant warfare, the bird holds its +own, and very rarely indeed is its nest discovered--a signal proof of +its precautions against the enmity of man. + +To turn to a more pleasant type of feathered animal. On the whole, the +most distinctly Australian bird is the kookaburra, or "laughing +jackass." (A picture of two kookaburras faces page 1 of this volume. +They were drawn for me by a very clever Australian black-and-white +artist, Mr. Norman Lindsay.) The kookaburra is about the size of an owl, +of a mottled grey colour. Its sly, mocking eye prepares you for its +note, which is like a laugh, partly sardonic, partly rollicking. The +kookaburra seems to find much grim fun in this world, and is always +disturbing the Bush quiet with its curious "laughter." So near in sound +to a harsh human laugh is the kookaburra's call that there is no +difficulty in persuading new chums that the bird is deliberately mocking +them. The kookaburra has the reputation of killing snakes; it certainly +is destructive to small vermin, so its life is held sacred in the Bush. +And very well our kookaburra knows the fact. As he sits on a fence and +watches you go past with a gun, he will now and again break out into his +discordant "laugh" right in your face. + +The Australian magpie, a black-and-white bird of the crow family, is +also "protected," as it feeds mainly on grubs and insects, which are +nuisances to the farmer. The magpie has a very clear, well-sustained +note, and to hear a group of them singing together in the early morning +suggests a fine choir of boys' voices. They will tell you in Australia +that the young magpie is taught by its parents to "sing in tune" in +these bird choirs, and is knocked off the fence at choir practice if it +makes a mistake. You may believe this if you wish to. I don't. But it +certainly is a fact that a group of magpies will sing together very +sweetly and harmoniously. + +One could not exhaust the list of Australian birds in even a big book. +But a few more call for mention. There is the emu, like an ostrich, but +with coarse wiry hair. The emu does damage on the sheep-runs by breaking +down the wire fences. (Some say the emu likes fencing wire as an article +of diet; but that is an exaggeration founded on the fact that, like all +great birds, it can and does eat nails, pebbles, and other hard +substances, which lodge in its gizzard and help it to digest its food.) +On account of its mischievous habit of breaking fences the emu is +hunted down, and is now fast dwindling. In Tasmania it is altogether +extinct. Another danger to its existence is that it lays a very handsome +egg of a dark green colour. These eggs are sought out for ornaments, and +the emu's nest, built in the grass of the plain (for the emu cannot fly +nor climb trees), is robbed wherever found. + +The brush turkey of Australia is strange in that it does not take its +family duties at all seriously. The bird does not hatch out its eggs by +sitting on them, but builds a mound of decaying vegetation over the +eggs, and leaves them to come out with the sun's heat. + +The brolga, or native companion, is a handsome Australian bird of the +crane family. It is of a pretty grey colour, with red bill and red legs. +The brolga has a taste for dancing; flocks of this bird may be seen +solemnly going through quadrilles and lancers--of their own +invention--on the plains. + +Another strange Australian bird is called the bower-bird, because when a +bower-bird wishes to go courting he builds in the Bush a little +pavilion, and adorns it with all the gay, bright objects he can--bits of +rag or metal, feathers from other birds, coloured stones and flowers. In +this he sets himself to dancing until some lady bower-bird is attracted, +and they set up housekeeping together. The bower-bird is credited with +being responsible for the discovery of a couple of goldfields, the birds +having picked up nuggets for their bowers, these, discovered by +prospectors, telling that gold was near. + +If the bower-bird wishes for wedding chimes to grace his picturesque +mating, another bird will be able to gratify the wish--the bell-bird +which haunts quiet, cool glens, and has a note like a bell, and yet more +like the note of one of those strange hallowed gongs you hear from the +groves of Eastern temples. Often riding through the wild Australian Bush +you hear the chimes of distant bells, hear and wonder until you learn +that the bell-bird makes the clear, sweet music. + +One more note about Australian nature life. In the summer the woods are +full of locusts (cicadæ), which jar the air with their harsh note. The +locust season is always a busy one for the doctors. The Australian small +boy loves to get a locust to carry in his pocket, and he has learned, by +a little squeezing, to induce the unhappy insect to "strike up," to the +amusing interruption of school or home hours. Now, to get a locust it is +necessary to climb a tree, and Australian trees are hard to climb and +easy to fall out of. So there are many broken limbs during the locust +season. They represent a quite proper penalty for a cruel and unpleasant +habit. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH + + An introduction to an Australian home--Off to a picnic--The + wattle, the gum, the waratah--The joys of the forest. + + +The Australian child wakens very often to the fact that "to-day is a +holiday." The people of the sunny southern continent work very hard +indeed, but they know that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"; +and Jill a dull girl too. So they have very frequent holidays--far more +frequent than in Great Britain. The Australian child, rising on a +holiday morning, and finding it fine and bright--very rarely is he +disappointed in the weather of his sunny climate--gives a whoop of joy +as he remembers that he is going on a picnic into the forest, or the +"Bush," as it is called invariably in Australia. The whoop is, perhaps, +more joyful than it is musical. The Australian youngster is not trained, +as a rule, to have the nice soft voice of the English child. Besides, +the dry, invigorating climate gives his throat a strength which simply +must find expression in loud noise. + +Let us follow the Australian child on his picnic and see something of +the Australian Bush, also of an Australian home. + +Suppose him starting from Wahroonga, a pretty suburb about ten miles +from Sydney, the biggest city of Australia. Jim lives there with his +brothers and sisters and parents in a little villa of about nine rooms, +and four deep shady verandas, one for each side of the house. On these +verandas in summer the family will spend most of the time. Meals will be +served there, reading, writing, sewing done there; in many households +the family will also sleep there, the little couches being protected by +nets to keep off mosquitoes which may be hovering about in thousands. +And in the morning, as the sun peeps through the bare beautiful trunks +of the white gums, the magpies will begin to carol and the kookaburras +to laugh, and the family will wake to a freshness which is divine. + +Around the house are lawns, of coarser grass than that of England, but +still looking smooth and green, and many flower-beds in which all the +flowers of earth seem to bloom. There are roses in endless +variety--Jim's mother boasts that she has sixty-five different +sorts--and some of them are blooming all the year round, so mild is the +climate. Phlox, verbenas, bouvardias, pelargoniums, geraniums, grow side +by side with such tropical plants as gardenias, tuberoses, hibisci, +jacarandas, magnolias. In season there are daffodils, and snowdrops, and +narcissi, and dahlias, and chrysanthemums. Recall all the flowers of +England; add to them the flowers of Southern Italy and many from India, +from Mexico, from China, from the Pacific Islands, and you have an idea +of the fine garden Jim enjoys. + +[Illustration: A HUT IN THE BUSH. PAGE 63.] + +Beyond the garden is a tennis-court, and around its high wire fences are +trained grape-vines of different kinds, muscatels and black amber and +shiraz, and lady's-fingers, which yield splendidly without any shelter +or artificial heat. On the other side of the house is a little orchard, +not much more than an acre, where, all in the open air, grow melons, +oranges, lemons, persimmons (or Japanese plums), apples, pears, peaches, +apricots, custard-apples (a curious tropical fruit, which is soft inside +and tastes like a sweet custard), guavas (from which delicious jelly is +made), and also strawberries and raspberries. + +The far corner is taken up with a paddock, for the horses are not kept +in a stable, night or day, except occasionally when a very wet, cold +night comes. + +That is the surrounding of Jim's home. Inside the house there is to-day +a great deal of bustle. Everybody is working--all the members of the +family as well as the two maid-servants, for in Australia it is the rule +to do things for yourself and not to rely too much on the labour of +servants (who are hard to get and to keep). Even baby pretends to help, +and has to be allowed to carry about a "billy" to give her the idea that +she is useful. This "billy" is a tin pot in which, later on, water will +be boiled over a little fire in the forest, and tea made. Food is packed +up--perhaps cold meats, perhaps chops or steaks which will be grilled in +the bush-fire. Always there are salads, cold fruit pies, home-made +cakes, fruit; possibly wine for the elders. But tea is never forgotten. +It would not be a picnic without tea. + +Now a drag is driven around to the front gate by the one man-servant of +the house, who has harnessed up the horses and put food for them in the +drag. Some neighbours arrive; a picnic may be made up of just the +members of one family, but usually there is a mingling of families, and +that adds to the fun. The fathers of the families, as like as not, ride +saddle-horses and do not join the others in the drag; some of the elder +children, too, boys and girls, may ride their ponies, for in Australia +it is common for children to have ponies. The party starts with much +laughter, with inquiries as to the safety of the "billy" and the +whereabouts of the matches. It is a sad thing to go out in the Bush for +a picnic and find at the last moment that no one has any matches with +which to light a fire. The black fellows can start a flare by rubbing +two sticks together, but the white man has not mastered that art. + +The picnic makes its way along a Bush road four or five miles through +pretty orchard country, given up mostly to growing peaches, grapes, and +oranges, the cultivated patches in their bright colours showing in vivid +contrast against the quiet grey-green of the gum-trees. It is spring, +and all the peach-trees are dressed in gay pink bloom, and belts of this +colour stretch into the forest for miles around. + +The road leaves the cultivated area. The ground becomes rocky and +sterile. The gum-trees still grow sturdily, but there is no grass +beneath; instead a wild confusion of wiry heather-like brush, bearing +all sorts of curious flowers, white, pink, purple, blue, deep brown. One +flower called the flannel-daisy is like a great star, and its petals +seem to be cut of the softest white flannel. The boronia and the native +rose compel attention by their piercing, aromatic perfume, which is +strangely refreshing. The exhaling breath of the gum-trees, too, is keen +and exhilarating. + +Now the path dips into a little hollow. What is that sudden blaze of +glowing yellow? It is a little clump of wattle-trees, about as big as +apple-trees, covered all over with soft flossy blossom of the brightest +yellow. I like to imagine that the wattle is just prisoned sunlight; +that one early morning the sun's rays came stealing over the hill to +kiss the wattle-trees while they seemed to sleep; but the trees were +really quite wide-awake, and stretched out their pretty arms and caught +the sunbeams and would never let them go; and now through the winter the +wattles hide the sun rays away in their roots, cuddling them softly; but +in spring they let them come out on the branches and play wild games in +the breeze, but will never let them escape. + +Past the little wattle grove there is a hill covered with the white +gums. The young bark of these trees is of a pinky white, like the arms +of a baby-girl. As the season advances and the sun beats more and more +fiercely on the trees, the bark deepens in colour into red and brown, +and deep brown-pink. After that the bark dies (in Australia most of the +trees shed their bark and not their leaves), and as it dies strips off +and shows the new fair white bark underneath. + +Our party has now come to a gully (ravine) which carries a little +fresh-water creek (stream) to an arm of the sea near by. This is the +camping-place. A nice soft bit of meadow will be found in the shade of +the hillside. The fresh-water stream will give water for the "billy" tea +and for the horses to drink. Down below a dear little beach, not more +than 100 yards long, but of the softest sand, will allow the youngsters +to paddle their feet, but they must not go in to swim, for fear of +sharks. The beach has on each side a rocky, steeply-shelving shore, and +on the rocks will be found any number of fine sweet oysters. Jim and his +mate Tom have brought oyster-knives, and are soon down on the shore, and +in a very short while bring, ready-opened, some dozens of oysters for +their mothers and fathers. The girls of the party are quite able to +forage oysters for themselves. Some of them do so; others wander up the +sides of the gully and collect wildflowers for the table, which will not +be a table at all, but just a cloth spread over the grass. + +They come back with the news that they have seen waratahs growing. That +is exciting enough to take attention away even from the oysters, for the +waratah, the handsomest wildflower of the world, is becoming rare around +the cities. All the party follow the girl guides over a slope into +another gully. There has been a bush-fire in this gully. All the +undergrowth has been burned away, and the trunks of the trees badly +charred, but the trees have not been killed. The gum has a very thick +bark, purposely made to resist fire. This bark gets scorched in a +bush-fire, but unless the fire is a very fierce one indeed, the tree is +not vitally hurt. Around the blackened tree-trunks tongues of fire seem +to be still licking. At a height of about six feet from the ground, +those scarlet heart-shapes are surely flames? No, they are the waratahs, +which love to grow where there have been bush-fires. The waratah is of a +brilliant red colour, growing single and stately on a high stalk. Its +shape is of a heart; its size about that of a pear. The waratah is not +at all a dainty, fragile flower, but a solid mass of bloom like the +vegetable cauliflower; indeed, if you imagine a cauliflower of a vivid +red colour, about the size of a pear and the shape of a heart, growing +on a stalk six feet high, you will have some idea of the waratah. + +Two of the flowers are picked--Tim's father will not allow more--and +they are brought to help the decoration of the picnic meal. Carried thus +over the shoulder of an eager, flushed child, the waratah suggests +another idea: it represents exactly the thyrsus of the Bacchanals of +ancient legends. + +The picnickers find that their appetites have gained zest from the sweet +salty oysters. They are ready for lunch. A fire is started, with great +precaution that it does not spread; meat is roasted on spits (perhaps, +too, some fish got from the sea near by); and a hearty, jolly meal is +eaten. Perhaps it would be better to say devoured, for at a picnic there +is no nice etiquette of eating, and you may use your fingers quite +without shame as long as you are not "disgusting." The nearest sister to +Jim will tell him promptly if he became "disgusting," but I can't tell +you all the rules. It isn't "disgusting" to hold a chop in your fingers +as you eat it, or to stir your tea with a nice clean stick from a gum +tree. But it is "disgusting" to put your fingers on what anyone else +will have to eat, or to cut at the loaf of bread with a soiled knife. I +hope that you will get from this some idea of Australian picnic +etiquette. But you really cannot get any real idea of picnic fun until +you have taken your picnic meal out in the Australian Bush; no +description can do justice to that fun. The picnic habit is not one for +children only. The Jim whom we have followed will be still eager for a +picnic when he is the father of a big Jim of his own; that is, if he is +the right kind of a human being and keeps the Australian spirit. + +After the midday meal, all sorts of games until the lengthening shadows +tell that homeward time comes near. Then the "billy" is boiled again +and tea made, the horses harnessed up and the picnickers turn back +towards civilization. The setting sun starts a beautiful game of shine +and shadow in among the trees of the gum forest; the aromatic +exhalations from the trees give the evening air a hint of balm and +spice; the people driving or riding grow a little pensive, for the spell +of the Australian forest, "tender, intimate, spiritual," is upon them. +But it is a pensiveness of pure, quiet joy, of those who have come near +to Nature and enjoyed the peace of her holy places. + + * * * * * + +I took you from near Sydney to see the Australian forest and to learn +something of its trees and flowers, because that part I know best, and +its beauties are the typical beauties of the Bush. Almost anywhere else +in the continent where settlement is, something of the same can be +enjoyed. A Hobart picnic-party would turn its face towards Mount +Wellington, and after passing over the foothills devoted to orchards, +scale the great gum-forested mountain, and thus have added to the +delights of the woods the beautiful landscape which the height affords. +From Melbourne a party would take train to Fern-tree Gully and picnic +among the giant eucalyptus there, or, without going so far afield, would +make for one of the beautiful Hobson's Bay beaches. Farther north than +Sydney, a note of tropical exuberance comes into the forest. You may see +a gully filled with cedars in sweet wealth of lavender-coloured +blossom; or with flame trees, great giants covered all over with a +curious flowerlike red coral. + +But everywhere in Australia, the hot north and cool south, on the bleak +mountains and the sunny coasts, will be found the gum-tree. It is the +national tree of this curious continent, the oldest and the youngest of +the countries of the earth. Some find the gum-tree "dull," because it +has no flaring, flaunting brightness. But it is not dull to those who +have eyes to see. Its spiritual lightness of form, its quiet artistry of +colour, weave a spell around those who have any imagination. Australians +abroad, who _are_ Australians (there are some people who, though they +have lived in Australia--perhaps have been born there--are too coarse in +fibre to be ever really Australians), always welcome with gladness the +sight of a gum-tree; and Australians in London sometimes gather in some +friend's house for a burning of gum-leaves. In a brazier the aromatic +leaves are kindled, the thin, blue smoke curls up (gum-leaf smoke is +somehow different to any other sort of smoke), and the Australians think +tenderly of their far-away home. + +[Illustration: SURF BATHING SHOOTING THE BREAKERS. PAGES 23 & 73.] + +One may meet gum-trees in many parts of the world nowadays--in Africa, +in America, in Italy and other parts of Europe; for the gum-tree has the +quality of healing marshy soil and banishing malaria from the air. They +are, therefore, much planted for health's sake, and the wandering +Australian meets often his national tree. + +A very potent medicine called eucalyptus oil is brewed from gum-leaves, +and a favourite Australian "house-wives'" remedy for rheumatism is a bed +stuffed with gum-leaves. So the gum-tree is useful as well as beautiful. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE AUSTRALIAN CHILD + + His school and his games--"Bobbies and bushrangers"--Riding to + school. + + +Australia is the child among civilized nations, and her life throughout +is a good deal like that of a child in some regards--more gay and free, +less weighed down with conventions and thoughts of rules than the life +of an older community. So Australia is a very happy place for children. +There is not so much of the "clean pinny" in life--and what wholesome +child ever really enjoyed the clean pinny and the tidied hair part of +life? + +But don't run away with the idea that the Australians, either adults or +children, are a dirty people. That would be just the opposite to the +truth. Australians are passionately fond of the bath. In the poorest +home there is always a bath-room, which is used daily by every member of +the family. On the sea-coast swimming is the great sport, though it is +dangerous to swim in the harbours because of sharks, and protected baths +are provided where you may swim in safety; still children have to be +carefully watched to prevent them from going in for a swim in unsafe +places. The love of the water is greater than the fear of the sharks. +The little Australian is not dirty, but he has a child's love of being +untidy, and he can generally gratify it in his country, where conditions +are so free and easy. + +I am sorry to say that the Australian child is rather inclined to be a +little too "free and easy" in his manners. The climate makes him grow up +more quickly than in Great Britain. He is more precocious both mentally +and physically. At a very early age, he (or she) is entrusted with some +share of responsibility. That is quite natural in a new country where +pioneering work is being done. You will see children of ten and twelve +and fourteen years of age taking quite a part in life, entrusted with +some little tasks, and carrying them through in grown-up fashion. The +effect of all this is that in their relations with their parents +Australian children are not so obedient and respectful as they might be. +This does not work for any great harm while the child is young. Up to +fifteen or sixteen the son or daughter is perhaps more helpful and more +companionable because of the somewhat relaxed discipline. Certainly the +child has learned more how to use its own judgment. After that age, +however, the fact of a loose parental discipline may come to be an +evil. But there is, after all, no need to croak about the Australian +child, who grows up to be a good average sort of woman or man as a +general rule. + +It is very difficult indeed for a child in Australia to avoid school. +Education is compulsory, the Government providing an elaborate system to +see that every child gets at least the rudiments of education; even in +the far back-blocks, where settlement is much scattered, it is necessary +and possible to go to school. The State will carry the children to +school on its railways free. If there is no railway it will send a 'bus +round to collect children in scattered localities. Failing that, in the +case of families which are quite isolated, and which are poor, the State +will try to persuade the parents to keep a governess or tutor, and will +help to pay the cost of this. The effect of all this effort is that in +Australia almost every child can read and write. + +Going to school in the Bush parts of Australia is sometimes great fun. +Often the children will have the use of one of the horses, and on this +two, or three, or even four children will mount and ride off. When the +family number more than four, the case calls for a buggy of some sort; +and a child of ten or twelve will be quite safely entrusted with the +harnessing of the horse and driving it to school. + +In the school itself, a great effort is made to have the lessons as +interesting as possible. Nature-study is taught, and the children learn +to observe the facts about the life in the Bush. There is a very +charming writer about Australian children, Ethel Turner, who in one of +her stories gives a picture of a little Bush school in one of the most +dreary places in Australia--a little township out on the hot plains. I +quote a little of it to show the sort of spirit which animates the +school-teachers of Australia: + +"A new teacher had been appointed to the half-time school, which was all +the Government could manage for so unimportant and dreary a place. His +name was Eagar, and his friends said that he suited the sound of it. +Alert of eye, energetic in movement, it may be safely said that in his +own person was stored up more motive power than was owned conjointly by +the two hundred odd souls who comprised the population of Ninety Mile. + +"There was room in Ninety Mile for an eager person. In fact, a dozen +such would have sufficed long since to have carried it clean off its +feet, and to have deposited it in some more likely position. But +everyone touched in any way with the fire of life had long since +departed from the place, and gone to set their homesteads and +stackyards, their shops or other businesses elsewhere. So there were +only a few limpets, who clung tenaciously to their spot, assured that +all other spots on the globe were already occupied; and a few absolutely +resigned persons. There is no clog on the wheel of progress that may be +so absolutely depended upon to fulfil its purpose as resignation. + +"It was to this manner of a village that Eagar came. In a month he had +established a cricket club; in two months a football club. The +establishment of neither was attended with any great difficulty. In +three months he had turned his own box of books into a free circulating +library, and many of his leisure hours went in trying to induce the boys +to borrow from him, and in seeing to it that, having borrowed, they +actually read the books chosen. + +"But his success with this was doubtful. The boys regarded 'Westward +Ho!' as a home-lesson, while the 'Three Musketeers' set fire to none of +them. Even 'Treasure Island' left most of them cold; though Eagar, +reading it aloud, had tried to persuade himself that little Rattray had +breathed a trifle quicker as the blind man's stick came tap tapping +along the road. The sea was nothing but a name to the whole number of +scholars (eighteen of them, boys and girls all told). Not one of them +had pierced past the township that lay ninety miles away to the right of +them; indeed, half the number had never journeyed beyond Moonee, where +the coach finished its journey. + +"Eagar got up collections--moths, butterflies, birds' eggs; he tried to +describe museums, picture-galleries, and such, to his pupils. At that +time he had no greater wish on earth than to have just enough money to +take the whole school to Sydney for a week, and see what a suddenly +widened horizon would do for them all. Had his salary come at that time +in one solid cheque for the whole year, there is no knowing to what +heights of recklessness he would have mounted, but the monthly driblets +keep the temptation far off. + +"One morning he had a brilliant notion. In another week or two the +yearly 'sweep' fever for far-distant races would attack the place, and +the poorest would find enough to take a part at least in a ticket. + +"He seized a piece of paper, and instituted what he called 'Eagar's +Consultation.' He explained that he was out to collect sixty shillings. +Sixty shillings, he explained, would pay the fare-coach and train--to +Sydney of one schoolboy, give him money in his pocket to see all the +sights, and bring him back the richer for life for the experience, and +leaven for the whole loaf of them. + +"'Which schoolboy?' said Ninety Mile doubtfully, expecting to be met +with 'top boy.' And never having been 'top boy' itself at any time of +its life, it had but a distrustful admiration for the same. + +"'We must draw lots,' said Eagar. + +"Upon which Ninety Mile, being attracted by the sporting element in the +affair, slowly subscribed its shilling a-piece, and the happy lot fell +to Rattray. + +"He was a sober, freckled little fellow of ten, who walked five miles +into Ninety Mile every morning, and five miles back again at night all +the six months of the year during which Government held the cup of +learning there for small drinkers to sip." + +I need not quote further about young Rattray's trip to Sydney and to the +great ocean which Bush children, seeing for the first time, often think +is just a big dam built up by some great squatter to hold water for his +sheep. That extract shows the Bush school at its very hardest in the hot +back-country. Of course, not one twentieth of the population lives in +such places. I must give you a little of a description of a day in a +Bush school in Gippsland, by E. S. Emerson, to correct any impression +that all Australia, or even much of it, is like Ninety Mile: + +"A rough red stave in a God-writ song was the narrow, water-worn Bush +track, and the birds knew the song and gloried in it, and the trees gave +forth an accompaniment under the unseen hands of the wind until all the +hillside was a living melody. Child voices joined in, and presently from +a bend in the track, 'three ha'pence for tuppence, three ha'pence for +tuppence,' came a lumbering old horse, urged into an unwonted canter. +Three kiddies bestrode the ancient, and as they swung along they sang +snatches of Kipling's 'Recessional,' to an old hymn-tune that lingers in +the memory of us all. As they drew near to me the foremost urchin +suddenly reined up. The result was disastrous, for the ancient +'propped,' and the other two were emptied out on the track. From the +dust they called their brother many names that are not to be found in +school books; but he, laughing, had slid down and was cutting a twig +from a neighbouring tree. 'A case-moth! A case-moth!' he cried. The +fallen ones scrambled to their feet. 'What sort, Teddy? What sort?' they +asked eagerly. + +"But Teddy had caught sight of me. + +"'Well, what will you do with that?' I asked. + +"'Take it to school, sir; teacher tells us all about them at school.' +The answer was spoken naturally and without any trace of shyness. + +"'Did you learn that hymn you were singing at school, too?' + +"''Tain't a hymn, sir. It's the "Recessional"!' This, proudly, from the +youngest. + +"But they had learned it at school, and when I had given them a leg-up +and stood watching them urge the ancient down the hillside, I made up my +mind that I would visit the school where the teacher told the scholars +all about case-moths and taught them to sing the 'Recessional'; and a +morning or two later I did. + +[Illustration: AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN RIDING TO SCHOOL. PAGE 75.] + +"The school stands on the skirt of a thinly-clad Gippsland township, and +is attended by from forty to fifty children. Fronting it is a garden--a +sloping half-acre set out into beds, many of which are reserved for +native flowering plants and trees. School is not 'in' yet, and a few +early comers are at work on the beds, which are dry and dusty from a +long, hot spell. Little tots of six and seven years stroll up and watch +the workers, or romp about on grass plots in close proximity. +Presently the master's voice is heard. 'Fall in!' There is a gathering +up of bags, a hasty shuffling of feet, the usual hurry-scurry of +laggards, and in a few moments two motionless lines stand at attention. +'Good-morning, girls! Good-morning, boys!' says the master. A chorused +'Good-morning, Mr. Morgan!' returns his salutation, and then the work of +the day begins. + +"But do the scholars look upon it as work? Something over thirty years +ago Herbert Spencer wrote: 'She was at school, where her memory was +crammed with words and names and dates, and her reflective faculties +scarcely in the slightest degree exercised.' In those days, as many old +State-school boys well remember, to learn was, indeed, to work, and when +fitting occasion offered, we 'wagged it' conscientiously, even though we +did have to 'touch our toes' for it when we returned. But under our +modern educational system the teacher can make the school work +practically a labour of love. + +"The morning being bright, the children are put through some simple +exercises and encouraged to take a few 'deep breathings.' Then the lines +are formed again. 'Left turn! Quick march!' and the scholars file into +the schoolhouse." + +But we need not follow the school in its day's work, except to say that +the ideal always is to make the work alive and interesting. Naturally, +Australian children get to like school. + +In the cities the schools are very good. All the State schools are +absolutely free, and even books are provided. A smart child can win +bursaries, and go from the primary school to the high school, and then +on to the University, and win to a profession without his education +costing his parents anything at all. When I was a boy the State of +Tasmania used to send every year two Tasmanian scholars to Oxford +University, giving them enough to pay for a course there. That has since +been stopped, but many Australians come to British Universities +now--mostly to Oxford and Edinburgh--with money provided by their +parents. There are, however, excellent Universities in the chief cities +of Australia, and there is no actual need to leave the Commonwealth to +complete one's education. + +In the Bush, and indeed almost everywhere--for there is no city life +which has not a touch of the Bush life--Australian children grow to be +very hardy and very stoical. They can endure great hardship and great +pain. I remember hearing of a boy in the Maitland (N.S.W.) district +whose horse stumbled in a rabbit-hole and fell with him. The boy's thigh +was broken and the horse was prostrate on top of him, and did not seem +to wish to move. The boy stretched out his hand and got a stick, with +which he beat the horse until it rose, keeping the while a hold of the +reins. Then, with his broken thigh, that boy mounted the horse (which +was not much hurt), rode home, and read a book whilst waiting for the +doctor to come and set his limb. Another boy I knew in Australia was +bitten by a snake on the finger; with his blunt pocket-knife he cut the +finger off and walked home. He suffered no ill effects from the +snake-poison. + +Endurance of hardship and pain is taught by the life of the Australian +Bush. It is no place for the cowardly or for the tender. You must learn +to face and to subdue Nature. + +The games of the Australian child are just the British games, changed a +little to meet local conditions. A very favourite game is that of +"Bushrangers and Bobbies" ("bobbies" meaning policemen). In this the +boys imitate as nearly as they can the old hunting down of the +bushrangers by the mounted police. + +The bushranger made a good deal of exciting history in Australia. +Generally he was a scoundrel of the lowest type, an escaped murderer who +took to the Bush to escape hanging, and lived by robbery and violence. +But a few--a very few--were rather of the type of the English Robin Hood +or the Scotch Rob Roy, living a lawless life, but not being needlessly +cruel. It is those few who have given basis to the tradition of the +Australian bushranger as a noble and chivalrous fellow who only robbed +the rich (who, people argue, could well afford to be robbed), and who +atoned for that by all sorts of kindness to the poor. Many books have +been written on this tradition, glorifying the bushranger. But the plain +fact is that most of the bushrangers were infamous wretches for whom +hanging was a quite inadequate punishment. + +The bushranger, as a rule, was an escaped convict or a criminal fleeing +from justice. Sometimes he acted singly, sometimes he had a gang of +followers. A cave in some out-of-the-way spot, good horses and guns, +were his necessary equipment. The site of the cave was important. It +needed to be near a coaching-road, so that the bushranger's headquarters +should be near to his place of business, which was to stick-up +mail-coaches and rob them of gold, valuables, weapons, and ammunition. +It also needed to be in a position commanding a good view, and with more +than one point of entrance. Two bushrangers' caves I remember well, one +near to Armidale, on the great northern high-road. It was at the top of +a lofty hill, commanding a wide view of the country. There was no +outward sign of a cave even to the close observer. A great granite hill +seemed to be crowned with just loose boulders. But in between those +boulders was a winding passage which gave entrance to a big cave with a +little fresh-water stream. A man and his horse could take shelter there. + +Another famous bushranger's cave was near Medlow, on the Blue Mountains +(N.S.W.), in a position to command the Great Western Road, along which +the gold from Lambing Flat and Sofala had to go to Sydney. This was +quite a perfect cave for its purpose. Climbing down a mountain gully, +you came to its end, apparently, in a stream of water gushing from out +a wall of rock. But behind that rock was a narrow passage leading to a +cave which opened out into a little valley with another stream, and some +good grass-land. To this valley the only means of access was the secret +passage through the cave, which allowed a man and his horse to pass +through. A gang of bushrangers kept this eyrie for many years +undiscovered. + +The latest big gang of bushrangers were the Kelly brothers, who infested +Victoria. Ned Kelly was famous because he wore a suit of armour +sufficiently strong to resist the rifle bullet of that day. The Kellys +were finally driven to cover in a little country hotel in Victoria. They +held the place against a siege by the police until the police set fire +to it. Some of the gang perished in the flames. Others, including Ned +Kelly himself, broke out and were shot or captured. He was hanged in +Melbourne gaol. + +But this is getting far away from the Australian children's games. It is +a curious fact that when the Australian children assemble to play +"Bushrangers and Bobbies," everybody wants to be a bushranger, and the +guardian of the law is looked upon as quite an inferior character. Lots +decide, however, the cast. The bushrangers sally forth and stick up an +imaginary coach, or rob an imaginary country bank. The "bobbies" go in +pursuit, and there is a desperate mock battle, which allows of much +yelling and running about, and generally causes great joy. + +"Camping out" is another characteristic amusement of the Australian +child. In his school holidays, parties go out, sometimes for weeks at a +time, sailing around the reaches of the sea inlets, or, inland, +following the course of some river, and hunting kangaroos and other game +as they go. Generally adults accompany these parties, but when an +Australian boy has reached the age of fifteen or sixteen he is credited +with being able to look after himself, and is trusted to sail a boat and +to carry a firearm. I can remember once on the way down to National Park +(N.S.W.) for the Field Artillery camp, at one of the suburban stations +there broke into the carriage reserved for officers, with a cheerful +impudence that defied censure, a little band of boys. They had not a +shoe among them, nor had anyone a whole suit of clothes. But they +carried proudly fishing tackle and some rags of canvas which would help, +with boughs, to build a rough shelter hut. The remainder of the train +being full, they invaded the officers' carriage and made themselves +comfortable. They were out for a few days' "camp" in the National Park. +For about ten shillings they would hire a rowing-boat for three days. +Railway fares would be sixpence or ninepence per head. A good deal of +their food they would catch with fishing lines; bread, jam, a little +bacon, and, of course, the "billy" and its tea were brought with them. +This was the great yearly festival, planned probably for many weeks +beforehand, calling for much thought for its accomplishment, showing the +sturdy spirit which is characteristic of the young Australian. + +All the usual British games are played in Australia: tops, hoops, +marbles among the younger children; cricket, football, lawn-tennis among +their elders. The climate is especially suited for cricket, as it is +warm and bright and sunny for so long a term of the year. On a holiday +in the parks around the Australian cities may be seen many hundreds of +cricket matches. All the schools have their teams. Most of the shops and +factories keep up teams among the employees. These teams play in +competitions with all the earnestness of big cricket. As the players +grow better they join the electorate clubs. In every big parliamentary +division there is an electorate club, made up of residents in that +electorate. The club may put into the field as many as four teams in a +day--its senior team and three junior teams. So there is an enormous +amount of play--real serious match play--every Saturday afternoon and +public holiday. Australia thus trains some of the finest cricketers of +the world. For some years now (1911) the Australian Eleven has held the +championship of the world. + +The Australian child of the poorer classes usually leaves school at +fourteen. The children of the richer may stay at school and the +University until nineteen or twenty. Usually they launch out into life +by then. Australia is a young country, and its conditions call for young +work. + + * * * * * + +That finishes this "Peep at Australia." I have tried to give the young +readers some little indication of what features of Australian life will +most interest them. The picture is of a land which appeals very strongly +to the adventurous type of the Anglo-Celtic race. I have never yet met a +British man or boy who was of the right manly type who did not love +Australian life after a little experience. The great distances, the +cheery hospitality, the sunny climate, the sense of social freedom, the +generous return which Nature gives to the man who offers her honest +service--all these appeal and make up the sum of that strong attraction +Australia has to her own children and to colonists from the Motherland. + + +THE END + + +BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD + + + + + LIST OF VOLUMES IN THE PEEPS AT MANY LANDS AND CITIES SERIES + + EACH CONTAINING 12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + + BELGIUM IRELAND + BURMA ITALY + CANADA JAMAICA + CEYLON JAPAN + CHINA KOREA + CORSICA MOROCCO + DENMARK NEW ZEALAND + EDINBURGH NORWAY + EGYPT PARIS + ENGLAND PORTUGAL + FINLAND RUSSIA + FRANCE SCOTLAND + GERMANY SIAM + GREECE SOUTH AFRICA + HOLLAND SOUTH SEAS + HOLY LAND SPAIN + ICELAND SWITZERLAND + INDIA + + A LARGER VOLUME IN THE SAME STYLE + THE WORLD + Containing 37 full-page illustrations in colour + + PUBLISHED BY ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK + SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 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