QUEENSLAND

BY CHARLES SHORTT DICKEN, C.M.G.

THE enterprising spirit of the British race for colonisation is its glory; and its victories of peaceful settlement have enriched humanity. Still more, and of greater importance, is the natural gift possessed by the British race, in a measure far beyond that of any European nation, for bringing into harmony the conflicting elements of barbarous and semi-civilised States, and successfully inaugurating and consolidating law and order among coloured people in the far-away continents and islands of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, which contribute to the completeness and solidarity of our great Empire. India, the Crown Colonies of the Straits Settlements, Ceylon, and Mauritius in the East, each with its own peculiar constitution and laws; that great Dominion of Canada in North America, with its mighty machinery of responsible government derived from the Crown; the self-governing colony of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean, with its glorious climate for Europeans and its remarkably interesting aborigines, the Maoris, all testify to the special genius of our race for colonisation and its resulting civilisation. Among the greatest of our self-governing Colonies are those of the continent of Australia, one of which is the subject of this article.

A glance at the map shows that Queensland occupies the north-eastern part of the Continent, having a coast-line to the South Pacific Ocean of

1500 miles, from Point Danger in the south to Cape York in the north, and having also about 750 miles of sea-board on the Gulf of Carpentaria. The breadth of the colony is about 900 miles near the southern boundary, comprising altogether an area of 668,497 square miles, or 427,838,080 acres, or, for the purposes of comparison, about 11 times the size of England and Wales, and 22 times the size of either Scotland or Ireland. Before entering on its history as a separate colony, it is well to give a brief description of some earlier interesting particulars about Queensland. In 1606, Admiral Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, with two ships crossed the Pacific Ocean from Peru, to discover the great South Land which early navigators believed to exist. He saluted some islands, probably the New Hebrides group, under the mistaken notion that they were the "Terra Australis Incognita," and then choosing one course for further discoveries, he directed his lieutenant, Luis Vaes de Torres, to take the second ship and go westward. History relates that the admiral's crew subsequently mutinied, compelling his return to Peru. Lieutenant Torres, however, continued his course westward along the south coast of New Guinea, and unwittingly discovered the continent of Australia, at its northernmost point, now called Cape York, and then stood away north through the mazy channels formed by the numerous islands in those seas. The hydrographer to the British Admiralty subsequently designated the strait between Australia and New Guinea by the name of Torres, in honour of that officer, who claimed the islands under the flag of Spain. That country, however, was not destined to enjoy sovereignty over them. It would occupy too much space to give details of the successive discoveries of portions of Australia by the Dutchman, Peter Nuyt, in 1627, Tasman in 1642, and, finally, the Englishman, Dampier, in 1688. I therefore pass

on to what is really the discovery of Australia by Captain James Cook in 1770, who in that year touched at Botany Bay, and then sailed northward to Moreton Bay, and up the coast of Queensland, of which he made an excellent chart, as far north as Torres Strait. On the site of the Cooktown of to-day, at the mouth of the Endeavour River, where he, the intrepid navigator, was compelled to beach his vessel in order to repair a leak, a monument has been erected within the last few years to his memory, and is now a conspicuous object near the place where he landed. The favourable report which Captain Cook gave of Australia on his return to England induced the Government of that day to transport their criminals there instead of to America, and in 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip landed at Sydney with his first company of prisoners, and in a solemn manner took possession of the whole continent in the name of Britain. This great event, however, happened only a few days before the arrival of some French vessels with the same object in view. Thus, by a fortunate coincidence, a new world was added to the dominion of the AngloSaxon race, enabling their descendants to expand and become the ruling power in the Southern Seas. Up to 1859, the whole of the territory now known as Queensland formed a part of the Colony of New South Wales, but on the 10th of December of that year the home Government granted separation from the parent colony, with its descriptive name, Queensland, and endowed it with all the privileges of responsible government. At that time there were only 25,000 persons in the new colony, owning 3,166,202 sheep and 432,800 cattle, whereas the latest statistics give the population at 460,550, the number of sheep, 19,856,959, and 6,822,401 cattle, proving that the confidence placed in the people of the colony by that act of self-government has not been misplaced. The colony has indeed

flourished in a remarkable degree under the fostering direction of successive ministries.

Before entering upon the subject of the present position of the colonists, and the suitability of the country generally for colonisation by British people, it may be as well to consider the effect our occupation of Australia has had on the aboriginal inhabitants. For many centuries the Australian aboriginal has lived in the midst of very adverse surroundings, tribe warring against tribe, each possessing a very restricted area, and in the absence of any agricultural knowledge, they were necessarily entirely dependent on the skilful use of their native weapons in the chase, to supply them with animal food for subsistence. Then droughts were of frequent occurrence in the interior; the tribes, therefore, had great difficulty in obtaining sufficient game to supply their daily wants, and their whole time was occupied in search for the same. This, together with their very strong belief in the supernatural power of demons and of their own wizards, amounting almost at times to a paralysing effect on their actions, tended to keep them in a state of degradation, and prevented them from attaining to any of the higher qualities which the native races of some other countries, such as the Maoris of New Zealand, for instance, possess, and they have, therefore, been rightly characterised as almost the lowest race among mankind. Although, generally speaking, they are an unattractive and uninteresting race, they yet possess a keen sense of the ridiculous, and many of their habits are worthy of attention, especially their intuitive knowledge of travelling in the "bush," tracking persons and animals, and their methods of finding water in the arid parts of the continent. Many of the early explorers have given their experiences on the subject of water-quest, from the traditional knowledge of the aborigines, who have lived, roamed, and hunted in the waterless wilds of the

interior. This knowledge extended to the discovery of water in the roots and stems of certain trees, such as the currajong, desert-oak, bloodwood of Central Australia, and in several plants, and to the finding of it in the hollows of trees, more especially in those of the desert-oak. The presence of wild animals, such as the kangaroo, wallaby, and dingo, may be taken as indications of water being near; but too much reliance in this connection cannot be placed upon them, as they are sometimes encountered long distances from water. The aboriginal conserves water in "rock holes" to the extent of several gallons, which are either natural or made by a process of pounding out the rock in such a place as will secure a good quantity of rain off the face of large rocks. When the tribes move from one place to another, the men carry only their weapons, the women bearing the small children (" pickaninnies ") on their backs, with their opossum cloaks and the drinkingwater, in a vessel hollowed out of wood, called a "coolamin," which is capable of holding about a gallon

or so.

It is interesting to see an aboriginal climb a tree for an opossum, flying squirrel, or other animals which hide in tree trunks. If the tree is of small circumference, so as to enable him to get a grip of it, he proceeds by cutting notches in the bark left and right for his toes to rest in, and so works his way up to the branches. If, however, it should be of great girth, he provides himself with a line about sixteen or eighteen feet long from the scrub, one end of which he makes into a knot, and then throwing it round the tree trunk, catches it, and holding the knotted end in his left hand, he twists the other end round his right arm, and planting his right foot against the tree, with his arms fully extended and his body bent back as far as possible away from the tree, he begins his ascent. He keeps throwing the "kamin" or vine rope up the tree, and