“ Very beautiful are the reaches of the Swan. Narrow and rock-bound above North Fremantle, they widen with a crescent sweep round the timber-studded grass slopes of Point Walter, and open farther on into the fine expanse of Melville Water, with its low wooded shores broken to the right by the inflowing stream of the river Canning; then contract suddenly where the headland of Mount Eliza stands sentinel over a gap leading into another road, upon the slopes of which is built the city of Perth. From down the river, Perth, its gardens, villas, spires, and public buildings mirrored in the smooth waters of the Swan, with a distant background of soft blue hills, is very fair to look upon. A closer inspection of the he town, however, proves somewhat disappointing. Sir George’s Terrace is the only thoroughfare calling for comment. A mile in length, straight and broad, shaded by rows of the flowering Cape lilac, containing many handsome buildings, among them Government House, the Anglican Cathedral, the public offices, the banks and residences of the wealthier inhabitants, the terrace is a street which in time will make a grand appearance, and already lends the capital its chief attraction. Running parallel to it is Hay Street, a narrow thoroughfare in which are the Town Hall, with its lofty tower, and the principal business premises. Beyond that again is Murray Street —broad, long, and tree-planted, but adorned by few good buildings —extending from the heights of Mount Eliza to the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which overlooks the city from lofty ground, having grouped around it the bishop’s palace, the convent of the Sisters of Mercy, and the Public Hospital. The railway line cuts the town of Perth in half. On the northern side of it are macadamised roadways crossing and recrossing each other at right angles, an flanked with small villas and cottage residences.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 200. Perth. W. C. Fitler. 201. The Swan River, Guildford. J. R. Ashton. 202. Entrance to King George’s Sound. J. R. Ashton. 203. King George’s Sound. A. H. Fullwood. 204. Albany. 205. Bunbury. A. H. Fullwood. 206. Fremantle. J. R. Ashton. 207. Government House, Perth. J. R. Ashton. 208. Old Government House, Perth. J. R. Ashton. 209. Howick Street, Perth. J. R. Ashton. 210. Roman Catholic Cathedral. W. C. Fitler. 211. Anglican Church, Perth. A. H. Fullwood. 212. Wesleyan Church, Perth. W. C. Fitler. 213. Geraldton. A. H. Fullwood. 214. Cossack. F. B. Schell. 215. Roebourne. F. P. Mahony. 216. Ord River, Kimberley District. J. R. Ashton. 217. Geikie Canyon, Fitzroy River. 218. Wyndham, Cambridge Gulf. J. R. Ashton. QUEENSLAND 219. Cook sighting the Glass House Mountains. J. R. Ashton. 220. Humpy Bong. F. B. Schell. 221. Hamilton Reach on the Brisbane River. F. B. Schell. 222. Brisbane, from Bowen Terrace. F. B. Schell.

223. Queen Street, Brisbane – 1860. J. R. Ashton. 224. Queen Street, Edward Street Corner. W. C. Fitler. 225. Queen Street, from Creek Street. J. R. Ashton. 226. Eagle Street and Fountain. W. C. Fitler. 227. Brisbane Observatory. F. B. Schell. 228. Botanical Gardens, from River Terrace. J. R. Ashton. 229. Supreme Court. W. C. Fitler. 230. The Queensland Club. W. C. Fitler. 231. Parliament House, Brisbane. W. C. Fitler. 232. The Darling Downs. F. B. Schell. 233. Brisbane Street, Ipswich. J. R. Ashton. 234. Market Street, Toowoomba. J. R. Ashton. 235. Warwick. J. R. Ashton. 236. Gympie. J. R. Ashton. 237. Maryborough, J. R. Ashton. 238. The Burnett River, Bundaberg. 239. Townsville. J. R. Ashton. 240. The Bridge, Rockhampton. W. C. Fitler. 241. Charters Towers Hospital. J. R. Ashton. 242. Charters Towers, Day Dawn Mine. J. R. Ashton. 243. Hinchinbrook Passage. J. R. Ashton. 244. Port Essington. A. H. Fullwood. 245. The Barron Falls, near Cairns. J. R. Ashton. 246. The Barron River, near Cairns. J. R. Ashton. 247. Charlotte Street, Cooktown. A. H. Fullwood. 248. Albany Pass. A. H. Fullwood. 249. On the Roper River. 250. Coconut Palms, Thursday Island. A. H. Fullwood. 251. Somerset, Cape York. A. H. Fullwood.

With the sole exceptions, however, of the prison and the Government Girls’ School, all the public buildings of the city, with the chief business houses and the churches of various denominations, lie between the railway and the Swan. On the eastern outskirts of the town the ground rises, and the river sweeps round a cemetery-crowned hill from which lovely views may be obtained of dark wood and shining water, and of the distant Darling Range. Around Fremantle and Perth, between the two, and along the river banks as far as the pretty little town of Guildford, nine miles above the city, the land is sandy, with occasional patches of richer soil, alluvial deposits, and here and there some swamp ground. The country looks sterile, the timber is somewhat stunted, as a rule, and the undergrowth of scrub furnishes indifferent pasture but this sand soil, if fairly treated, is prolific in a high degree. With the aid of moisture and of fertilisers, it grows fruit and vegetables and every imaginable product of temperate and semi-tropic climes in rare abundance. The orange, the olive, the grape, and the banana flourish in it equally with fruits of English origin, and wherever water is procurable rich and productive garden-lands may readily be formed. At Guildford, red loam and fine alluvial flats replace the sandy soil, wheat fields and rich pastures alternating with vineyards and orchards along the riverbanks. Perth, with its eight thousand inhabitants, the capital of the colony’, the seat of government, of the Supreme Court, and of the Legislature, is also the mart and source of supply for a large extent of country, ranging from the Victoria Plains on the north to the agricultural areas of the eastern districts, and south to the sheep-walks of the Williams. But Fremantle is the commercial centre of the colony, receiving produce and distributing goods from and to ports as far north as Derby in Western Kimberley, and as far south as the Vasse in Geographe Bay.” P479

“Western Australia, with its three to four thousand miles of coast line, is singularly deficient in good harbours. King George’s Sound and Cambridge Gulf, indeed, may probably be cited as the only two really first-class shelter grounds for vessels which the colony possesses. From Eucla across the Bight to Cape Arid no refuge of any kind exists, nor does a single watercourse, forming creek or inlet, find its way through the limestone cliffs to the seashore. Granite succeeds limestone after passing Cape Arid, and thence to the westward several indentations, such as those at Esperance, Doubtful Island, and Two People Bay, afford protection for small vessels in certain conditions of the weather. Beyond them, Cape Vancouver and Bald Head —bold, jutting buttresses —protect the wide entrance to King George’s Sound, a gulf some ten miles deep, and well sheltered from all but south-western storms. In the centre of the Sound rise the two rocky islands of Breaksea and Michaelmas, on the former of which is a lighthouse and signalling station, connected with the mainland by a submarine cable. From the northern extremity of the Sound -a narrow passage, navigable for vessels of light draught, leads into an inner sheet of water, named Oyster Harbour from the beds of that bivalve with which in former days it was plentifully stocked. Into this lake-like expanse, with its picturesquely-wooded shores and hilly background, flow the King and the Kalgan Rivers, from their distant sources westward of the Porongerup and Stirling Ranges. Three miles south of the entrance to Oyster Harbour another opening in the rocky shores of the Sound presents itself, deep enough to give passage, to the largest ocean steamers, and forming the approach to Princess Royal Harbour, on the northern shores of which stands the town of Albany, the site of the earliest settlement established in the colony, and memorable also in colonial annals as the goal of Eyre’s celebrated and perilous journey across the Great Australian Bight.” P477

“ Private enterprise, however, has led to large stores of fuel being maintained for the accommodation of passing vessels, by which King George’s Sound is becoming annually more and more frequented. Being the only harbour of refuge and coaling station to which steamers making for the open ocean from East Australian Waters can resort, and the first port of call for vessels outward bound, commanding also the regular track of a great part of the commerce of the continent, King George’s Sound has ever been regarded by naval and military authorities as a position of the utmost importance in any scheme of Australian defence. Were it securely fortified and safe from capture, hostile cruisers coming round the Leeuwin would find a descent upon the eastern capitals hazardous if not impracticable Were it, on the other hand, allowed to fall into the occupation of an enemy, the latter might do incalculable mischief to Australian shipping from such a base, and prove most difficult to dislodge. The necessity of providing, adequate protection for Princess Royal harbour has, therefore, long been urged by experts both upon the Imperial and Australian governments, and has by these been acknowledged theoretically, although no corresponding practical steps have hitherto been taken. Western Australia is at present passive in the matter. Her own interests being less concerned than those of her eastern neighbours, she is waiting for some definite agreement as to the share in the work which the latter are prepared to take. Propositions have also recently been made for the establishment at King George’s Sound of a station for federal quarantine, where all vessels arriving from the westward with disease on board should deposit their sick and be disinfected before proceeding to the centres of eastern population.”

"The government of the colony have consented to this proposal, on the understanding that the station be placed at a safe distance from the town of Albany, and have suggested Michaelmas Island, in the outer Sound, as a suitable site. Albany is not merely of importance for its situation on the shores of the grand strategical harbour of King George’s Sound —well named the "Gate" of Western Australia, and the naval "key" of the eastern colonies. It is also a port of distribution for a large extent of pastoral and agricultural country, and supplies a majority of the farms and stations within a radius of one hundred and fifty miles. The land in the immediate neighbourhood of the town is poor and sandy, but-justly celebrated for the profusion and variety of its wild flowers, which in the season make a magnificent display.
From King George’s Sound to the Leeuwin and thence to Cape Naturaliste the coast is rocky and granitic. It is broken by numerous streams and by three lake-like inlets at the mouths of the Hay, the Forth, and the Deep Rivers. Only one of these, known as Nornalup, is accessible from the sea, and that only to vessels of light draught. Into Nornalup the Deep River, named the Gordon in its upper course, discharges waters fed by the drainage of a large extent of country. On its banks is an abundance of magnificent timber, a species of jarrah, which will probably feed the sawmills of the future.
Behind the promontory which forms the celebrated Leeuwin is Flinders Bay, a fairly good anchorage, protected from the roll of the Indian, Ocean. Here lies the village of Augusta, one of the oldest of West Australian settlement.” P478

“ Thirty miles north of Busselton lies the town of Bunbury on a sandspit at the entrance to the Leschenault Inlet, the scene of an abortive attempt at colonisation in the early days of Swan River settlement. Bunbury, with a population of several hundreds, is a place of some importance, being the outlet of a district which, though thickly timbered and as yet sparsely settled, contains extensive areas of magnificent soil, and every requirement for supporting in the future a large and thriving agricultural population. The anchorage at Bunbury is indifferent, but the coasting steamers are seldom unable to approach the jetty, now the terminus of a railway to the timber ranges, which it is hoped may in time be prolonged in sections till it joins the line from Albany to Perth. Peel’s Inlet is the only break in the monotony of the low sand-hills which fringe the coast, between Bunbury and Garden Island. On the banks of the Murray, a river of some importance flowing into this backwater of the sea, Mr. Peel, one of the earliest of the first settlers,’ established himself in days gone by; and here, at the little hamlet of Pinjarrah and in its neighbourhood, a small and scattered population is still maintained, devoted primarily to pastoral pursuits, and secondarily to agriculture and to the growth of fruit of excellent quality, which ripens in great abundance on the alluvial soil.” P478

“ Garden Island —low, scrub-covered, and sterile —protects Owen’s anchorage and the quiet waters of Cockburn Sound from the storms of the open sea. On Rottnest Island, some few miles to the north of it, are the native prison and the governor’s summer residence; and between the two is the passage, through which vessels heading up from the southward approach Gage’s Roads and the seaport of Fremantle. This town, the general depot of distribution for a large part of the colony, is built upon a low-lying neck of land between the rocky elevation of Arthur’s Head, with its light-house, on the one side, and some gently-rising limestone heights on the other; being hemmed in by the Swan River and by the sea. From the distance, Fremantle presents no features either striking or attractive, the only building standing out from the rest being a vast prison, placed upon a hilly background-a relic of misdirected Imperial expenditure in the convict days. Nor are hidden beauties discoverable at close, quarters. Its street architecture, somewhat dilapidated and of singular style in the older quarters, is merely commonplace in the newer; and a lately-finished town hall and Anglican Church, rising side by side, are the only buildings of really handsome appearance which the town possesses. The roadways also are macadamised with limestone, unpleasantly reflecting the glare of the summer sun; and, taken altogether, Fremantle is scarcely a locality which would be regarded by strangers, at first sight, as a desirable place of residence. Its streets, however, show signs of busy life and activity; its jetties are the scenes of brisk work and movement, while its railway workshops and station buildings are on a scale indicative of the importance of the commercial traffic carried on with the capital, the up-coast towns, and the far interior. Two timber bridges, spanning the river Swan, afford passage for the railway and road respectively, which unite the port with the twelve-mile distant city; but the journey to the latter should, by the lover of fair scenery, be made by water.” P479

“ On February 8, 1863, Bishop Salvado laid the foundation stone of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on a reserve of land known as Victoria Square. Father Martin Griver, later Bishop of Perth, was responsible for the building, which forms part of the nave of the present Cathedral. The architect and master mason was Brother Joseph Ascione, a Benedictine Oblate from Naples. It was built in the Italian style. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was blessed and opened on January 29, 1865.”

“ Geraldton, two hundred miles further up the coast, as a port stands probably next at present in commercial importance to Fremantle. A well-built, prosperous town of about one thousand inhabitants, it commands the trade of a large and important pastoral, agricultural, and mineral district, drawing to itself wool bales from the Upper Murchison, and other pastoral areas, cereals from the celebrated Greenough Flats, and lead ore from Northampton. Champion Bay, or rather the district to which Geraldton serves as port, is acknowledged from the rich and varied nature of its resources to be one of the most promising portions of the vast western territory, and here capital wisely spent, particularly in pastoral enterprise, seems destined to bring large and certain profit. Following up the coast from Geraldton, the next settlement is the little town ship of Carnarvon, at the mouth of the Gascoyne. Fifty or sixty miles south west of it, in Shark’s Bay, is located a small pearler population, while on Dirk Hartog’s Island also a few settlers have established themselves, and a little trade is carried on. But Carnarvon is the only seat of a stipendiary magistracy between Champion Bay and Roebourne, and serves as a port for the Gascoyne, Lyons, and Minilya River stations. The Shark’s Bay pearling industry differs in many respects from that carried on in more northern waters. The shell is smaller and dredged off Shallow banks, no diviner being required. The pearls also are of the "seed" variety, and extracted by a curious and unpleasant process. Barrels are filled with the mussel, and this animal matter is left to rot. As it decomposes it is vigorously stirred, the pearls gradually dropping to the bottom, while an indescribable stench poisons the surrounding air. This Shark’s Bay fishery yields smaller profits than that of the ordinary mother-o’-pearl of commerce, but maintains in comfort the owners of a fairly numerous fleet of boats. Some two hundred miles to the north of Carnarvon is an indentation known as Exmouth Gulf, formerly a favourite resort of the Nor’-west pearlers.” P480

“ Here the coastline turns to the eastward, and before forming the harbour of Cossack, gives the waters of the Ashburton, the Robe, the Fortescue and other smaller rivers access to the Indian Ocean. Cossack, a small township of uninviting aspect, is the port of that magnificent pastoral district lying between the Ashburton and De Grey, commonly known as the " Nor’-west." It is united to Roebourne, a larger urban settlement where the government holds its’ court, by a tramway eleven miles in length. A dreary, hot, and lifeless locality under ordinary conditions, it acquires sudden, noisy, and not always most agreeable animation when the pearling fleet resorts to it, and the motley crew of natives, Malays, and Island nationalities disport themselves on shore.” P481

“ Of the third or Kimberley division of the colony much has been heard of late, but its fortunes are all before it, and little more than speculative forecasts can so far be made of its future. Since 1879, when Mr. Alexander Forrest travelled up the Fitzroy, and crossing the watershed of that river, followed the Ord to its junction with the Negri, settlement in the Kimberleys has made fair progress. The explorer’s description of the country was so favourable that it was taken up under pastoral lease with much rapidity, but chiefly by speculators whose sole object was to sell out at a profit. Some few of the leaseholders, however, most of them West Australians, determined to stock the banks of the western rivers, the Fitzroy, Meda, Lennard, and others, and sheep were sent up by sea at great risk and serious expense. Several stations were established by these pioneers, but of late they have had few additions to their ranks, and the further stocking of the district is being left chiefly to the natural increase of the sheep already placed within it. To East Kimberley the Messrs. Durack brought cattle overland from New South Wales in considerable numbers, and there, on the Ord River, several stations have been formed. The distance from settled country is, however, so great, and the consequent cost of stocking Kimberley runs and making the necessary improvements so heavy, that notwithstanding the admirable character of much of the pasturage in these new districts, they have not hitherto proved so attractive of squatting enterprise as was expected when first their resources were made known. With the probable large approaching development of the Kimberley reefing industry, however, and the consequent establishment of a local market for fat stock, pastoral industry in that part of the colony may be expected to receive a considerable impetus —more especially cattle-breeding, for which the elevated inland plateaux seem well adapted. No attempt has been yet made to introduce the culture of tropical products on the banks of the Kimberley rivers, nor is it expected that at a greater distance than fifty miles from the coast such industries are likely to be carried on with success. Even on the coast lands it is doubtful whether without irrigation much can be done with products requiring constant moisture.” P486

“ The country beyond the Leopold Ranges, on the Glenelg and Prince Regent’s Rivers may, however, prove more suited to the purpose than those portions of the district which are better known. Sir George Grey, now of New Zealand, discovered the beautiful and fertile valley of the Glenelg in 1837, and from the account he has given of its soil and climate hopes are entertained that it may support a population devoted to agricultural pursuits. The Kimberley districts present features of much interest, being by no means a mere wide level of fine pasture land. In the eastern part on the Ord, and in the western on the Fitzroy and its neighbour rivers, are rich plains and magnificent alluvial flats in abundance, but in the central country mountain ridges are heaped together in wild confusion, producing scenery of a peculiar and striking character. The high escarpments of the Leopold Range bearing from Collier Bay to the Margaret River, close with their bold outline the heads of the fertile valleys of the west coastal rivers, and beyond them hills and highlands of curious formation and fantastic shape, within which rise the Ord and its many affluents, form pictures of rugged beauty or grim originality. Some of the country is wildly strange in appearance, as for instance the rugged hillocky district through which flows the Panton stream; the great Antrim Plateau with its flat-topped elevations; and the endless peaks of the Rough Range, looking like grouped masses of druidical stones. Then as the Ord River broadens on its seaward course, the scenery softens and forms lovely views.” P486

“ Apart from the facts that of late years there has been little solid cause for dissatisfaction with the government, and that the people are given a large share in the management of their affairs, various causes, added to those already mentioned, contributed o retard general acceptance of the platform of the reform party By all thoughtful men, even amongst those who had joined in this movement for constitutional change, it was felt that the conditions of the colony were ill-suited for carrying on government under a system similar to that common to the eastern provinces.
With a population sparsely scattered over an enormous extent of coastal lands, ranging from Eucla round to Wyndham, and concentrated only about the capital and its neighbour towns of the south-western corner, it could be no easy matter to secure for the vast outlying districts their due share of influence in the administration. Then, again, the number of men able to take part in public life was small, even in proportion to the smallness of the population. The Legislative Council contained members perfectly well able to undertake the management of the colony’s affairs-men who had experience in public life and training to public business. Amongst some seventy elected members, none of whom would discredit any colonial parliament, there was not wanting ability of a fair order. Amongst those also who had not yet had seats in the legislature numbers could be found capable of applying undoubted talent to the conduct of the country’s business. Unfortunately, however, Western Australia possessed few men of wealth; nearly all were workers, earning their living in various callings, in business or profession.” P492

QUEENSLAND PRINTS

“ Queensland, like Victoria, was a province before it was a colony and was known then as the district of Moreton Bay. It was the outlying northern settlement, and a mere extension, coastwise, of the original, colony. At the time when it was determined to make a new outpost on the shores of Moreton Bay no one had the faintest idea of the marvellous resources of the north-eastern portion of Australia. Nay even years afterwards, when a comparative handful of settlers demanded and obtained separation from the parent colony they were ignorant of the resources of the wide district which they were anxious to govern in their own interest. They had faith, they had hope, they had confidence, but they had not actual knowledge of the immense wealth which had fallen to their share. Nature, however, has not been niggardly to Queensland; on the contrary there is no part of Australia where she has lavished her gifts more freely. How bountiful she has been the following pages will show, but yet even now the half is not known, and must therefore be here untold. As early as the year 1822, the existing settlements in New South Wales were considered by the authorities inadequate to accommodate the increasing numbers of prisoners constantly arriving. To Sir Thomas Brisbane and his officials it seemed that the Port Jackson and Port Macquarie establishments could not be conveniently enlarged. According to their lights, with half a continent stretching before the doors of their barracks, they were cramped for habitable space. In this condition of embarrassment –now obviously imaginary but at the time apparently real –recourse was made to the information furnished by the narrative of Flinders respecting the coast and inlets to the northward. The matter having been submitted to the Home authorities, instructions were received to take measures for their relief; and, in accordance with commands, Sir Thomas Brisbane despatched Surveyor- General Oxley to examine Port Curtis, a locality of which Flinders had spoken not unfavourably. Oxley sailed from Sydney on October 23rd, 1823, in the colonial cutter "Mermaid," of eighty-one tons, a vessel which had already in 1819 and 1820, done good service on the eastern and northern coasts under the command of Lieutenant Philip Parker King.”
“ Despite this discovery Oxley was not satisfied that the natural advantages of the locality were adequate for the purpose, and Rodd’s Bay which he next inspected, did not more favourably impress him. He consequently raised anchor and set sail on his return voyage, calling in, according to instructions, at Cook’s Glasshouse Bay in search of the embouchure of a possible river; Flinders had only partially explored this bay.” P313

“ The site for the new penal depot mainly commended itself to his approbation as being "difficult for escape." In his despatch on the subject to his superiors in England, Brisbane appears to have had Earl Bathurst’s lamentable inclination for free colonisation in his thoughts, and to have insinuated a rebuke when he included in his remarks the sage aphorism that "the establishment of penal depots is the best means of paving the way for the introduction of free populations." Whatever might have been the aberration of Earl Bathurst, it is certain that Governor Brisbane could reckon upon official and general recognition of his sentiment as an incontrovertible truism. Although that theory has been discarded by British politicians, it still lingers somewhat; and, until the French have ceased the attempt to colonise New Caledonia on the principles of Sir Thomas Brisbane and his contemporaries, these ideas cannot be regarded as entirely superseded.
Sir Thomas ordered that the buildings at Redcliff should be abandoned to the natives, apparently prompted by the sort of generosity which induces some charitable people to exclaim, "This thing is utterly useless; give it to some poor person." The deserted houses received from the new owners, to whom they were about as valuable a gift as a church organ might have been, the name of Humpy Bong, which in the aboriginal dialect signifies the "dead -houses." This name the locality still bears, although traces of the buildings would be hard to discover. It is possible that the ingenious vandalism of land auctioneers may ere long replace the traditional name by some more pompous designation, for, after forty years of neglect and contempt, the rejected site for the settlement is now attracting the attention of Brisbane citizens panting for the breezes and longing for the waters of the sea, and thousands of pounds have but recently been paid for areas there that, till within the last half-dozen years, could have been purchased for a less number of pennies.” P318

“ Governor Darling himself, in the same year, 1827, visited Moreton Bay, and was unfavourably impressed with the situation of the station on the Brisbane River. The winding course of the stream as it approaches Brisbane renders navigation by sailing vessels very exasperating, as a breeze which is fair in one reach is foul in another, one double bend just below the town still commemorating in its name of Humbug Reach the irritation of early voyagers. Sir Charles. Darling appears to have resented some such protraction of his progress, for in a despatch to Lord Goderich he suggests the abandonment of the station, "the tediousness and difficulty of the approach rendering it extremely inconvenient." He suggested Dunwich, a knoll on the bay shore of Moreton Island, as preferable, with Stradbroke Island as a station for the first reception of prisoners. In a later despatch he states that at Brisbane the water is bad and sickness common, and mentions that good sites for farms existed six miles lower down —probably the tract subsequently and still known as Eagle Farm. Meanwhile, he decided upon sending to Moreton Bay, to enjoy the benefits of its bad water and its sickness, the prisoners remaining at Port Macquarie, whence "the worst" had previously been drafted to the same favoured and attractive spot.” P320

“ Chosen originally as a location for a penal establishment, the site of Brisbane cannot lay claim to any special advantages. The first lodgment was made on the flat crown of a ridge which dipped sharply and bluffly into the river, but sloped with a gentler declivity in the opposite direction. Roughly outlined, the space available for immediate settlement consisted of a tract shaped like a broad and barbed arrowhead. The river Brisbane defined the two faces of the shape, and the re-entering angle at the base was formed by an abrupt knoll which threw out spurs towards the lower ground, and projected, to right and left, long and elevated ridges which hemmed in the cape formed by the bend of the river. Had the settlement been made for a different purpose, and a score of years earlier, the knoll just mentioned would certainly have been crowned with a fort which would have served equally to protect and to dominate the inhabitants. But the long series of wars, which terminated with the fall of Napoleon, had been ‘or several years concluded. Colonial settlements, even where their value induced attack, were no longer exposed to this sort of danger.
Hence, in lieu of a citadel, a windmill was constructed upon the apex of this commanding elevation and gave its present name to Windmill Hill. Standing at the foot, or preferentially upon the top of the old stone tower, which once was the body of the mill, and is not a signal station, the area of the original settlement, now become the business portion of the city lies displayed below. Looking towards the point of the imaginary arrowhead, on the right face the riverbank is high, on the left it is comparatively low.” P369

“ A quarter of a century ago Queen Street was fringed with a straggling succession of weather-board huts with shingled roofs which have now all disappeared. And within the past half-dozen years, even the second stage of Australian town architecture has been, to some extent, supplanted by the third, which yet remains to be universally established. The more recent the building the more imposing is, as a rule, its style and dimensions. At the intersection of George Street, one corner is occupied by an elegant building, shaded with verandahs and balconies, which years ago replaced the earlier quarters of the Bank of New South Wales. This faces the neatly designed, but now somewhat insignificant office of the Registrar-General, shortly to be demolished to make room for a massive pile of government offices more worthy of a site which has frontages to four streets, and comprehends an entire square facing the river, and once the soldiers’ barrack -grounds. This will, when completed, constitute the most splendid public edifice in the Australian colonies. In this square the old military barracks still stand, utilised as office’s for the Colonial Treasurer and his staff, a rectangular, two-storey building of brick, with dressed stone facings, with iron-barred windows, just as in the old times.
This too, is doomed to disappear. From this intersection, Queen Street slopes downwards, the steepness of the grade having, however, been reduced from its primitive declivity. Where the mean, wooden shanties which crouched beside the Town Hall, and served successively as post office, mines office, and museum, but lately disfigured the street, good substantial shops with plate-glass fronts now stand.” P370

“ The downward slope of Queen Street terminates at Edward Street, and a gentle contrary acclivity there commences, while the latter street follows at right angles the course of what has been apparently a cross gully or vale. At the intersection of the two streets, a huge block of buildings six storeys high occupies one corner. As we write, the builders are yet at work, but when complete the structure will be the most extensive in the city, and will accommodate, not merely the machinery and offices of the Brisbane Courier, the leading daily paper, but a multitude of other establishments. It will be the pioneer in providing the modern convenience of elevators to give access to the upper suites, and its dimensions would make it remarkable in any city in Australia. An opposite corner is occupied by a very fine building with a pillared front of beautifully white freestone, the premises of the Australian Mutual Provident Society. It is not many years since this site was taken up by a congeries of the meanest sort of tumbledown wooden stores, in the occupation of the humblest class of dealers. A certain degree of progress was, however, imparted to this corner when, on an extensive conflagration sweeping away some of the better-class stores up the street, the proprietors reopened in this quarter, which then took the name of Refuge Row. A little higher up, on the same side of the street, a new theatre is also in course of construction, and its stage front and seating accommodation will surpass any provided by the theatres of Sydney or Melbourne when these cities had been. in existence as long as Brisbane now has been.” P371

“ The remaining streets which lie parallel to William Street call for brief notice. Where they intersect Queen Street, retail business has, to some extent, overflowed into them. Elsewhere, they present few notable features. In Wharf and Eagle Streets, which follow the line of the riverbank in the lower part of the city, the majority of the shipping and importing establishments is situated, among which are a number of sufficiently presentable structures. One block is really fine and impressive. This contains the warehouses and offices of Messrs. D. L. Brown and Co., importers. The wharves themselves do not invite description, bearing an intimate resemblance to the Darling Harbour wharfages in Sydney, save that there are no projecting jetties, which would too greatly interfere with the navigable space in the river. In no part of the city has the natural contour of the surface been more modified than in Creek Street, which, crossing Queen Street at right angles by the National Bank, leads to the wharves. There, where a level, well-made street now exists, the creek which bounded Mr. Petrie’s garden once curved and wound between deep alluvial banks. The metamorphosis is here yet sufficiently recent to be incomplete. At one point the street is bounded on the right by the handsome and extensive warehouses of an importing firm, and by the new bright premises of the Royal Bank of Queensland; while on the other a deep grassy depression, where vegetation and rubbish contend for possession, is the last unfilled segment of the old creek bed.
A little further down the street are the stores and residence of a citizen, there established about a score of years, who relates how, standing on his overhanging balcony, his sons used to fish in the creek, then flowing below.
Anyone desirous of obtaining a comprehensive view of the city of Brisbane would naturally climb the ascent leading to Windmill Hill. The exertion would be amply rewarded. To the westward, the view extends over a middle distance of forest-clad undulations to the masses of the main range, distant some eighty or ninety miles, and rising in peaks to an altitude of from two thousand to three thousand feet. To the north, the prospect is closed within six or seven miles by the broken outline of Taylor’s Range, a minor chain. As the observer faces the south and east, the river shimmers beneath, its sinuous course now revealing, now hiding, the gleam of its reaches as they wind their tortuous path around the knolls and ridges which everywhere hem in the city. Of the suburbs, but a partial view, interrupted by the same impediments that obscure portions of the river, can be obtained and to the northeast a high spur ridge close at hand intercepts the view altogether. But the whole panorama is charming, despite its partial limitations. To right and left, on the spurs which branch off from the Windmill Hill itself, the ridge is crested by a long line of villas and cottages, for the most part embellished with shrubbery and climbing verdurous plants.” P376

“ A windmill was reared on the abrupt and elevated knoll which dominates the town. It subsequently served as an observatory for watching, and still is utilised as a tower for signalling the approach of vessels. Extensive clearings were effected, and the beautiful but obstructive scrubs which clothed, the low alluvial tongue of land where government house now stands, and on the south side of the river facing the settlement, disappeared before the axes of gangs of prisoners. Logan’s industrial projects were not, however, always directed by a knowledge equal to his enterprise’. The overseers were allowed a money bonus for every acre cleared, and, when out of the range of the commandant’s personal supervision, appear to have abused the privilege. It is alleged that they stripped poor thinly-timbered land of its shade in preference to clearing for cultivation richer but thickly-timbered soil. A story is also related of a ludicrous sowing of the prepared rice of commerce in expectation of a crop which, as one narrator observes, is just as though pearl barley had been planted.” P319

“ The beautiful botanical gardens on the river-bank, which possibly owe less to natural inequalities of surface for their attractions than those of several of the other Australian capitals. Their frontage to the broad stream of the river is almost their sole advantage in this respect. But the art of the landscape gardener has been assisted by a friable alluvial soil and a climate favourable to a rapid and robust growth of the glorious vegetation of the semi-tropics. The bamboo here exults in the moisture of the lower grounds, which once were swampy jungle.”
“ Should the Brisbane botanical gardens be entered from the Edward Street gate, the visitor would be confronted by a cool, dark arcade, whose leafy aisle is formed by the overarching curves of lofty bamboos whose stems and foliage form on either hand a palisaded wall pervious to the breeze, but impenetrable to the sun’s ardent beams. Through these stems, springing in clumps, is accessible and visible on the right the shimmering surface of a placid lagoon, margined with floating leafage of water-lilies. Beyond extends towards the, facade of the Houses of Parliament a swelling, grassy slope, studded with foliage trees. To the left lies a neglected flat, used for cricket and football practice, and reaching to the river-bank, whereon still frowns, in impotent menace, a battery of venerable smooth-bore thirty-two-pounder guns, tremendous in sonorous salutation on national anniversaries, or when the Governor, in state, opens Parliament.”
“ The beauties of aboriculture are our theme, and oaks which bear human acorns, such as Tristan indicated to Quentin Durward, are not embellishments to a landscape. Winding paths, grassy lawns and knolls, interspersed with beds of lovely orchids and groves of trees, beautiful or curious, and diversified by lily-bosomed ponds and radiant parterres of many coloured flowers and variegated foliage plants artistically inlaid, make the sum of the attractions of these elegant gardens.” P377

“The Supreme Court premises extend over an entire section having frontages, not only to William Street, but also to George Street. The latter presents all the anomalous features of a half-developed avenue in a colonial town. The buildings alternate between the handsome modern and the sordid early, and vacant spaces await filling. Three fine hotel buildings help to embellish George Street —opposite the Supreme Court is Lennon’s, adjoining that is the Imperial, and away on the opposite side, at the end of the street, and next to the botanical gardens, is the Bellevue, the situation of which justifies its name. Each of these hotels is of quite recent construction, commodious, airy, and adapted to the climate. Brisbane is, in fact, peculiarly well provided with hotels, surpassing in that respect, in proportion to its population and other developments, any other of the Australian capitals. Besides the three already named, others equally modern and of generous dimensions stud the city. In the vicinity of the wharves stands the Grand, a roomy house. On, the south side of the river, near the bridge, the Palace and the Bridge Hotels are both fine houses. Facing the railway terminus stands the Transcontinental, and more retired, in an elevated position, where every cooling breeze is felt, is Parishes’. There are other and older houses throughout the city, but it is the architectural development which strikes the eye, and interests by the evidence it affords of the material advancement and progress of the community.” P374

“ In George Street stands yet the first private residence built in Brisbane, erected by Captain Coley. It is in this street also, and with frontage to Alice Street, which runs along the botanical gardens, that the Queensland Club buildings have been erected. These are not merely exceedingly handsome, but shewn to the best advantage by the excellence of their situation, which again invests the premises themselves with the combined attractions, of extreme airiness and of a delightful prospect. There is not in Australia any clubhouse, the exterior of which equally pleases the eye, and not one which approaches this in the charm of open situation.
One entire facade commands a view over the botanical gardens, and receives the full advantage from that direction of the sea-breeze, which on summer afternoons never fails in Brisbane not merely to temper the ardent heat due to the sun’s rays, but to substitute a delicious freshness. A continuation of George Street, passing through wide gateways, leads immediately to the Parliament House, and, beyond, by an avenue enclosed in foliage, to the governor’s residence.” P374

“ The Parliament House is a handsome building of cut freestone, consisting of a central block surmounted by a dome; the two wing buildings have high mansard roofs, and are connected with the main body by long curtains, the fronts of which are broken and embellished by ornamental balconies. In these two curtains are provided the halls for the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly respectively, the central building being partly absorbed in entrance hall and staircases, and the wings being apportioned to official suites for the President, the Speaker, and other officers of both Houses.
In the opposite direction, George Street loses its identity a little past the railway gates by branching into diverse roads, which respectively climb and skirt a steepish ridge intercepting the direct course. Here the Brisbane Gaol stood for many years after separation, but within the last decade the building has been demolished, and a new one erected a couple of miles out of town, on the south side of the river. In the early days the locality we speak of was wild bush.
Not far from here Mr. John Petrie, while a youth, stood with a "tame" blackfellow looking on at a grand battle between two tribes of aborigines —an entertainment which had been announced for some time previous. Mr. Petrie’s henchman was a character in his way, being an old hanger-on at the settlement and famous for his gift of mimicry. He could give an imitation of the personal peculiarities and mannerisms of all the commandants of the penal era, and his talents in that respect won for him much consideration. The battle was very fierce and earnest. The Brisbane blacks were hard pressed, and driven back by showers of spears and war boomerangs. The last-mentioned weapons differ from the ordinary boomerangs.” P375

“ Those portions of the Darling Downs where water is plentiful were quickly appropriated; other portions of the same rich district were occupied, and, on water failing, abandoned by pioneers who judged themselves wise —to their subsequent sorrow and repentance —to descend the range and possess themselves of the forest country on the banks of the upper Brisbane River, its affluents, and the head-waters of other streams flowing towards Moreton Bay. In 1842 Sir George Gipps reported the existence, within fifty miles of Brisbane, of forty-five squatting stations. This seems to have been a loose statement, as in 1844 official returns gave but seventeen squatting stations in the Moreton Bay district, with twenty-six on the Darling Downs. At the earlier date the export of wool was eighteen hundred bales. The later returns afford a statement of the population and stock of the two districts-the free settlers numbered four hundred and seventy-one; horses, six hundred and sixty; cattle, thirteen thousand two hundred and ninety-five; sheep, one hundred and eighty-four thousand six hundred and fifty-one.” P324

“ The earliest pastoral pioneers of the Darling Downs and Moreton Bay districts were almost uniformly men of an exceptional order. They belonged to the same rank in society as Sir George Gipps himself, and some, at any rate, were, when visiting Sydney, on a footing of intimacy with him. Several of these were ex-officers of the army and navy. Dr. Leichhardt had been surprised, when he first visited Moreton Bay in 1843, to find, as he travelled from station to station in that frontier region —the most remote on the world’s surface from the centres of civilisation.” P326

“ The principal street was once the main road to the Darling Downs. At right angles it is traversed by others, of which the most important leads down to the frontage of the Bremer basin. Prior to the construction of railways, Ipswich was a place of much importance, and these two streets especially were the scene of perpetual bustle. Scores of bullock-drays here "dragged their slow length along," in Alexandrine fashion, laden with supplies direct from the wharves or from the stores which lined these streets. Later, a season of deep depression afflicted the town. The railway starting hence, inland, had shifted the terminal point of bush conveyance far to the west. But settlement progressed apace in the rich agricultural and pastoral lands in the neighbourhood, and gradually its prosperity returned, established upon a sound and stable basis. Ipswich has the appearance of being the provincial town, which, in fact, it is. A commodious hospital perched on a breezy hillside is a prominent feature, and St. Paul’s Anglican church, which is centrally situated, is an elegant structure. The Grammar School has a tasteful building on a very fine site. A fine iron bridge spans the Bremer above the basin, and maintains communication with the suburb on the other bank during even the heaviest floods, which rise more than sixty feet above the ordinary level of the creek. The population numbers about eight thousand.” P381

“ The town of Toowoomba was not laid out until after separation. The inconvenience and meanness of the narrow streets, which Brisbane, Ipswich, and other of the earliest Queensland towns owe to the lack of foresight and judgment of Governor Gipps and others, had already been recognised when Toowoomba had to be defined. The consequence was a generous provision for streets, and Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, is not surpassed, as regards its noble lateral dimensions, by Bourke or Collins Streets in Melbourne, while it surpasses both in the indefinite prolongation which ultimately loses itself in the forest primeval. The parallel cross streets are laid out on the same liberal scale, and afford provision for the future development of a majestic city. As yet, it must be admitted the great width of the thoroughfares is not without its drawbacks. Toowoomba is planted on the margin of extensive swampy depressions. The soil is of surpassing richness, alike as regards its fecundity, its colour, and its tenacity.
In wet weather its deep, red-brown mud clings to every boot or wheel which comes in contact with it, and in dry seasons a red dust of a most searching quality invades every domicile. White horses in Toowoomba are tempered to a subdued chestnut tinge, white houses gently blush for the soil. White costumes, such as are summer wear below the range, are here impossible. The municipal authorities find the revenues of a moderate population inadequate to form and maintain the full width and side-walks of their extensive boulevards; hence the town cannot be described as handsome, nor is beauty lent to it by an architectural splendour.” P382

“ At Toowoomba the railway bifurcates. One line proceeds due west towards the boundless tracts of the Maranoa and Warrego, the other, turning to the south, makes a connection with the railways of New South Wales, only a gap of a few miles remaining in 1887 to be filled-in in order to complete a junction which will shortly give uninterrupted railway communication from Adelaide to Brisbane. On the southern .arm stands the pretty little town of Warwick, one of the most picturesque in southern Queensland. Its situation is not far from Mr. Patrick Leslie’s first stationary camp in the Darling Downs district. Warwick is the centre of an agricultural and pastoral district, and stands amidst the timber in the ridgy country bordering the Downs. The soil around is rich and black, but the town itself is planted on a gravelly stratum which keeps its roads ever tidy and clean. A central park of limited dimensions lends a special and unusual attraction to the urban vistas. Being less elevated than Toowoomba, the winter climate is not quite so raw and bleak. Warwick is distant from Brisbane about one hundred and sixty-six miles south-west, and supports a population of a little over three thousand. A branch railway thence leads off to Killarney, twenty-eight miles, a farming settlement nearer the main range.
The main trunk line continues to the New South Wales border via Stanthorpe, a little township which sprung into existence in 187o as the centre of the alluvial tin deposits then discovered, and which has not, since its early boom, made much progress. It is a primitive little place, flanked by a granite hill, and surrounded by alluvial tin workings in the Severn River and the creek which preserves its original unromantic name of Quart Pot. The workings are, however, now mostly exhausted, and lodes of tin have not, up to the present, been found in the locality.” P382

“ Into the shallow and placid waters of Wide Bay the Mary River disembogues, and about twenty-five miles from its mouth is situated the town of Maryborough, a thriving settlement of some thirteen thousand inhabitants. Maryborough is planted on the banks of the river, at a sharp curve. As the coastal terminus of several short railways, and the port which ministers to the Gympie goldfield and the coal measures of the Burrum River, flowing into Hervey’s Bay, a little further north, it is a considerable place, with prospects still more considerable. The stage of architectural pretension has not yet been reached by Maryborough, which, nevertheless, derives a certain picturesqueness from its situation, and from the very irregularities and primitiveness of its structures, and the frequent occurrence of foliage among, the houses. The premises of the various banking institutions and the government offices constitute the chief embellishments. The streets, of which the principal are Kent Street, Adelaide Street, and Wharf Street, are of moderate width. The scrubs which originally clothed the alluvial tracts on the riverbanks were once prolific of cedar and pine, of which the supply is not yet exhausted. The saw mill industry is not at present as flourishing as it was some years ago, and of four mills in the neighbourhood, two only, are now at work. Two extensive engineering factories and two sash and door factories are among the industrial establishments, while on the river at different points are several important saw-mills and sugar mills, the last-named crushing cane supplied by a multitude of plantations, chiefly tilled by Kanaka labourers.”
“ Higher up the Mary River are several townships, and, connected by railway, the important mining centre of Gympie, with a population of nearly eight thousand.” P384

“ Into the shallow and placid waters of Wide Bay the Mary River disembogues, and about twenty-five miles from its mouth is situated the town of Maryborough, a thriving settlement of some thirteen thousand inhabitants. Maryborough is planted on the banks of the river, at a sharp curve. As the coastal terminus of several short railways, and the port which ministers to the Gympie goldfield and the coal measures of the Burrum River, flowing into Hervey’s Bay, a little further north, it is a considerable place, with prospects still more considerable. The stage of architectural pretension has not yet been reached by Maryborough, which, nevertheless, derives a certain picturesqueness from its situation, and from the very irregularities and primitiveness of its structures, and the frequent occurrence of foliage among, the houses. The premises of the various banking institutions and the government offices constitute the chief embellishments. The streets, of which the principal are Kent Street, Adelaide Street, and Wharf Street, are of moderate width. The scrubs which originally clothed the alluvial tracts on the riverbanks were once prolific of cedar and pine, of which the supply is not yet exhausted. The saw mill industry is not at present as flourishing as it was some years ago, and of four mills in the neighbourhood, two only, are now at work. Two extensive engineering factories and two sash and door factories are among the industrial establishments, while on the river at different points are several important saw-mills and sugar mills, the last-named crushing cane supplied by a multitude of plantations, chiefly tilled by Kanaka labourers.
Maryborough was first settled on June 4th, 1848, on which date Mr. Aldridge, who still survives, a respected and now wealthy citizen, and Mr. Palmer, also an esteemed and successful colonist, simultaneously crossed the river from the south bank on a raft made of the trunk of a pine-tree split in halves. They established themselves at what is known as the old township, distant by river about seven miles up a bend, and by land some two and a half miles, from the present town of Maryborough. P384 “ Wide Bay, when expanded into Hervey’s Bay, receives the waters of several minor streams in addition to those of the Mary. The Burrum flows through a tract of coal measures of great value and is connected with Maryborough by a railway. The Isis is a lesser stream, but the Burnett is one of considerable volume, and navigable for coasting steamers for nine miles from its mouth to the little town of Bundaberg. This pretty village is the centre of a district rich in sugar and maize plantations. Thence extends a line of railway to the little mining hamlet of Mount Perry, sixty miles distant, in the heart of a district mineralised to an extraordinary degree. Copper is the principal metal in the lodes, which, though ordinarily small, are rich, and are so numerous that it has been affirmed by persons intimately acquainted with the locality that there are scores of square miles of granite country, over the face of which, were a plough to be drawn at right angles to the general trend of the lodes, indications of a vein of ore would be exposed at almost every hundred yards. The country round Mount Perry is, however, generally of a broken and rugged nature, and the scenery exceedingly picturesque.
The shallow and tepid waters of Wide Bay and Hervey’s Bay constitute a favourite haunt of one of the most curious and interesting of marine mammals —the dugong, the Halicare Australis of Cuvier. This singular creature has a number of congeners in tropical regions throughout the globe. The manatee of the West Indian Seas differs from it but slightly, and wandering individuals of that species have been washed ashore in the Firth of Forth and at Dieppe. But it is in the Indian Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, and on the Australian coast that it chiefly abounds. In the last century it was plentiful at the Mauritius. A score of years ago, dugong were not infrequent in Moreton Bay, where even now occasional stragglers make their appearance; but Wide Bay is at present their best-known resort, although they abound also in many of the shallow estuaries northward to Cape York. The dugong belongs to the class of mammals styled cetacea, to which family the whale likewise pertains. The latter, however, is carnivorous, whereas the dugong is herbivorous, and the principal animal of that subdivision. In form, it somewhat resembles the porpoise, except as regards the head, which is that of an animal, not of a fish. It differs also from the porpoise in having no dorsal fin. The ears and eyes are very small, and the latter deep-set. The tail is crescent shaped, like that of the whale, and constitutes its principal means of propulsion, the pectoral fins being insignificant in, proportion to the body of the animal, which attains a length of from seven to eight feet, with very portly bulk. It is a harmless and inoffensive creature, nature having denied it any weapons of offence or defence.” P385

“ Passing Cape Upstart, and the bay of the same name into which one of the many mouths of the Burdekin flows, Cape Bowling Green has next to be passed by the voyager north ward. This is constituted by an extensive low level projection, which, in fact, is the delta of the Burdekin. The northern openings of this river discharge into the shoal-encumbered expanse of Bowling Green Bay, to which a scenic background is supplied by the lofty and imposing mass of Mount Elliot. This mountain, exceeding four thousand feet in altitude, and standing aloft in solitary grandeur, dominates the coastal and inland scenery over many leagues. It dwarfs Cape Cleveland, and is a chief landmark at Townsville on the shores of Cleveland Bay.
Townsville claims to be ranked as the most important and progressive town in northern Queensland. In the trade returns it figures second only to Brisbane as a seaport. It is somewhat magniloquently described in a local almanac as being ecclesiastically a city, and it is especially dear to fame as the headquarters of the North Queensland Separation League, an organisation which has branches in all the northern towns, which has invaded with its emissaries the official sanctum of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and which retains as its secretary and pamphleteer no less potent an advocate than Mr. William Coote, the first historian of Queensland, whose powerful style is apparent in a multitude of manifestoes. The object of the league is to obtain for northern Queensland that boon of separation from the southern portion which the southern portion sought and secured from New South Wales.” P395

“ Rockhampton, situated about thirty miles from the mouth of the Fitzroy, is the principal town and port of central Queensland. It serves as an entrepot for a vast tract of interior country, and is the coastal terminus of one of the main lilies of railway, which extends already three hundred and fifty-eight miles westward to a place called Barcaldine, on the Alice, and is still being continued inland. This line taps the Belyando and the famed Barcoo country. A branch line diverges at a place called Emerald, and running northward, terminates at the town of Clermont, the capital of the Peak Downs district, discovered by Leichhardt, and since even more celebrated for its copper mine than for its rich and open grazing country.
The mine is no longer worked, and with its closure the progress of the place has been suspended. Situated on low ground adjoining, Sandy Creek, the town is subject to disastrous inundations in seasons of flood. A population of a little over a thousand cling to it in hope of a revival of prosperity. Some alluvial gold-digging has been done in the neighbourhood, and at Copperfield, a village four miles distant, gold-bearing quartz reefs have been tested, although without encouraging results. The immediate neighbourhood of Rockhampton comprises much auriferous country, including the renowned Mount Morgan, the most prolific gold mine which the world has known, and which is distant about twenty-eight miles from the town. The unprecedented value which the shares in the company owning this mine have attained in the market, and the unusual matrix in which the gold occurs, justify some prolixity of description. On these accounts, the property can scarcely fail to have interest even for future generations, whether it present to them the aspect of the early history, of a magnificent reality or the importance which was attained by a splendid illusion.” P389

“ The fame of Charters Towers has spread far beyond Australia. Its gold mines-and especially the prolific Day Dawn-have caused the name of the place to sound familiar "on ‘change" in London. The town and its environs present a peculiar appearance. Situated in the midst of a vast treeless plain, edged here and there by little rounded hills crested with outbreaks of rock, the township at first glance from a distance might be mistaken for an encampment under canvas. The little white cottages of wood and galvanised iron shine under the tropical noon like snowy tents. Amidst their densest throng arise curious masts and beams supporting wheels and gear; these are the "poppet-heads." of various gold mines. Among them is the Day Dawn, which early in 1887 was sold in London to a company for a capital sum of six hundred and forty thousand pounds. A visitor who passed through Charters Towers shortly after this sale remarks: " The whole town is given over to a mining fever. Claims are being pegged out in all directions; shafts are being sunk. Every man, woman, or child who has or saves a little money buys mining scrip." The population has attained the number of about eight thousand. The town is ugly; its scenery has no charms, but its financial prospects are decidedly alluring.” P397

“ The Barron River, which falls into Trinity Bay but a few miles north of Cairns, shares with similar streams the attractions of rich alluvial bottoms and a growth of grand cedar trees; but it has a peculiar and unrivalled attraction in the falls, which interrupt the upper course of its stream.”
" The actual height of the falls is now ascertained to be about six hundred feet, or four hundred and thirty-six feet higher than Niagara. From the edge of the precipice, the river falls nine hundred feet in half a mile. The Herberton railway will pass right along the top, and the finest view of the whole falls will be seen from the carriage windows. The view in flood time will have no rival in the known world.” P400

“ Trinity Bay, at the bottom of which opens Trinity Inlet, the real future harbour of Cairns, was so named by Cook, who entered it on a Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later, King visited the bay, but neither of these navigators discovered the inlet, to which the probable future importance of the place must be in a great measure due. Trinity Bay itself is thoroughly sheltered from the south-east trade winds, which blow with little variation for half the year —from April to September. From November to March, during the prevalence of the north-west monsoon, the winds in these regions are variable, but generally from the northward and westward, with occasional calms and not infrequent violent gales. To such gales Trinity Bay lies fully exposed, but the propinquity of the Great Barrier Reef, right in the wind’s eye, although it does not temper the blast, moderates the sea, and the roadstead is still available for anchorage for vessels of burden. Small craft drawing not more than eight feet have access to the inlet at all states of the tide, except very low springs, when there are but six feet of water on the bar. The town has been established on a sandy timbered flat —but a few feet elevated above high water, and at the very apex of the bay —in part just opposite the shallowest part of the bar and partly on the entrance to the inlet.” “ Originally the site was covered with a tropical scrub, of which traces still subsist; and in latitude sixteen degrees fifty-six minutes south a settlement on such a low site might have been expected to be unhealthy in the extreme. This expectation might have been intensified by the extraordinary moisture which here almost constantly keeps the soil in a condition of saturation.
The Cairns district is, in fact, the centre of a coastal tract which, from a meteorological point of view, contradicts all prevailing ideas with respect to Australian climate. Here, in lieu of a deficiency of rainfall, there is a redundancy. What is termed the zone of heavy rainfall commences at Hinchinbrook Island, at the mouth of the Herbert River, and culminates at the Johnstone River and the Cairns district. This aqueous phenomenon is easily explained. In these regions the south-east trade winds, charged with moisture derived from the evaporation of the sunny surface of the Pacific Ocean, are intercepted by the lofty ridges of the great coast range, which flanks the eastern seaboard of the entire continent. In these latitudes, however, this range approaches to the littoral more closely than elsewhere, and heaves tip summits and ridges of exceptional altitude, culminating some distance south of Cairns.” P398

“ The town of Cairns as yet scarcely merits description. The streets re surveyed of ample width, and one boulevard of stores and public houses is surrounded by scattered residences of modest construction; practically not a single yard of street-way is yet formed. All the buildings are of wood, and with the exception of some of the government structures, utility and economy alone have been considered, elegance being reserved for a later development.
In their early days, Cairns, Mourilyan, and Port Douglas were rivals or the supreme position as the shipping port for the interior in these latitudes. The question was not one to be decided imply by the respective merits of the harbours a question equally crucial had to be solved. The main range, with its scarped cliffs, scrub-covered steeps, and intricate jumble of ravines and ridges, rose behind each of the rival coast towns in forbidding majesty, and barred access to the western lands. Numerous expeditions were launched from the different starting-points; from the Hodgkinson goldfield, also, parties toiled to breach the barrier from within. The task was in no ease less than formidable. The spurs and gullies, the impenetrable scrubs, the precipices and chasms which suddenly yawned before the explorer’s feet, the clinging vines which entangled them, the stinging-nettle trees which tortured them, driving man and horse frantic with pain, the lurking savages —all combined to oppose difficulties. Many parties scrambled through and over the barrier, but their narratives presented mere series of escalades, clamberings, lowerings with ropes, twistings, and turnings. Up to the present time, Port Douglas has the only road practicable for wheeled traffic. From Cairns there is a track suitable for packhorses and mules, but after a prolonged official inspection, it has been decided that the ranges behind Cairns can be more economically surmounted by a railway than those at Port Douglas, and accordingly a line is in course of construction from Cairns to Herberton, the little village capital of a remarkable tableland, the elevation of which confers upon it a climate where English fruits will ripen; it has streams of running water, while its granite rocks contain rich lodes of tin. Herberton, on the Wild River, is about fifty-five miles west of Cairns. The mineralised tract of country in this region is extensive, trending south-westerly, crossing the basins of the Walsh and Tait Rivers, and constituting an area of about eighty miles by twenty. Tin, copper, and silver lodes abound. As to the former metal, this district alone in the world, it is said, competes with Cornwall in the abundance of its lodes of tin, of which over one hundred have been opened out. A number of small centres of population are distributed over this area, wherever a rich discovery has led to the establishment of machinery. Watsonville, with a population of four hundred, contests the pre-eminence with Herberton for the present.” P400

“ Cooktown, the most northern as yet of east coast towns, is reached; and on the right the voyager leaves the opening from the Pacific Ocean through the Barrier Reef, to which Cook gave the name of Endeavour Passage, and in the vicinity of which, on the landward side, lies that reef whereon the explorer’s ship so nearly terminated her career. Some enterprising residents of Cooktown have lately visited this historical spot in the hope of recovering some of the cannon which Cook here cast overboard to lighten his shattered and grounded vessel; but the busy coral insect has so industriously imbedded these relics that no sign of their presence could be distinguished. The approach to Cooktown is readily distinguished by the light tower which surmounts the elevated Grassy Hill, which heaves its blunt apex five hundred and seventy feet from the water’s edge, and constitutes the south head of the port. Farther inland, Mount Cook rears its majestic crest to the clouds, attaining an altitude of one thousand five hundred feet. This mountain was so named by Lieutenant King in the year 1819, when he visited the place and sought for traces of Cook’s sojourn. King found the natives bold and treacherous, and noted with surprise that although it was here that Cook recorded the word "kangaroo," as derived from the aborigines, its application to the marsupial was not understood by those with whom he held communication. He discovered a little heap of coal near his landing-place overgrown with grass, and was somewhat puzzled by the circumstance, concluding ultimately, however, that the existence of the coal might be interpreted by a passage in the "Endeavour’s" log: "Employed getting our coal ashore." This is probably the correct solution, but it may be remarked that since the establishment of Cooktown coal measures have been discovered about a score of miles from the town.” P403

“ The exploits of the brothers Frank and Alexander Jardine in penetrating from the base to the apex of the Cape York Peninsula are the last which need be described in connection with interior exploration. Mr. John Jardine, father of these youths —for their ages when they undertook this expedition were but twenty-two and twenty years respectively —had been appointed police magistrate to found the settlement at Somerset, Cape York. Mr. Jardine had filled a similar position at Rockhampton from the time of the Canoona rush, hereafter referred to. His sons were bush-bred and masters of bushcraft. No man could stick to a buck jumping horse or break a colt better than the Jardines. They could track like black boys and swim like fishes; with revolver or rifle they were equally handy. Conducted by such a pair, success seemed assured for any expedition. Mr. Jardine, sen., proceeded to his post by sea. His sons resolved to take a mob of cattle overland and form a station on the mainland facing Albany Island, where the government establishment was to be created. They broke from the frontier at Carpentaria Downs the Einasligh Creek, which was known to be a head of some river flowing into the Gulf, but which river was an open question; it is now known to be a head of the Gilbert. The party consisted of the brothers Jardine, Mr. Richardson (a surveyor), a Mr. Scrutton, and two other whites, with four black boys. For riding and packing, they had forty-one horses and one mule. Despite the bushmanship and resolution of the explorers, the expedition proved most perilous, and barely escaped being disastrous. Frightful country enveloped them as they pushed towards the western coast. On one occasion it required the utmost exertion of six men to drive the cattle three and a half miles in five hours. The blacks dogged their steps, and repeatedly ambushed the brothers when they were pushing ahead alone to find a route or a camp. During one of their absences, the grass about the camp caught fire, and the bulk of their provisions were destroyed; some ammunition was saved, Mr. Scrutton snatching canisters of powder from the flames while the solder was actually melting with the heat. Once the blacks assailed the camp. The brothers had just started, and were recalled, to find a score of savages "corroborreeing" in front of the camp, working up their courage. They had artfully placed themselves so that the rising sun shone at their backs, and so dazzled the white men that they did not perceive the delivery of a flight of spears till the missives whistled among them, fortunately without harm. The rifles replied with deadly effect, and the encounter was over.” P341

“ Subsequent explorers have, in considering Leichhardt’s route in the light of his declared intentions, doubted whether he was not progressing to a considerable extent at random in persisting so long in a northerly direction. Here, however, in latitude fifteen degrees fifty-two minutes thirty-eight seconds south, he turned sharply off, and bent his path to the westward. He found the country swarming with hostile natives, and a night attack by them resulted in a fatality which had nearly been a complete catastrophe. A shower of spears and waddies invaded the tents and pierced the bodies of three of the party. Poor Gilbert, the naturalist, was killed on the instant, but Roper and Calvert, the other sufferers, were able to take part in beating off the assailants. Their wounds, although severe, and aggravated by the necessity for continuous travel, were healed with marvellous rapidity, and they were fully convalescent before the expedition had penetrated far into the wide expanse of the Carpentarian plains, a stretch of which has won by its apparent fecundity the designation of the "Plains of Promise" —a promise still, at the present day, inviting but unfulfilled. By the time the party had arrived about the latitude where the present western boundary of the colony of Queensland is mapped, their clothing was in tatters, and their tea and sugar were expended. The seeds of the sterculia were now gathered and boiled to furnish a beverage, and the diet of the explorers was eked out with such accessories as green-hide soup, and "coffee" brewed from the roasted beans of a creeper, discovered first on the Mackenzie River. Further progress had now become a struggle for life. The horses gave in; three were abandoned at the Roper River. The baggage was reduced once and again, even the collections of natural history specimens having to be sacrificed. But the courage of the little band was sustained by their falling in with blacks, among whom were some who spoke a little broken English, and who intimated that the Port Essington settlement was not far remote.
Leichhardt was about to sacrifice his last beast of burden —a bullock —to provide meat for his half-starved party, when, most encouraging sign of all, a herd of buffaloes, of the Indian species, originally imported to feed the people at the Port Essington establishment, and since run half-wild, was sighted. One of these he managed to shoot, and, refreshed by its flesh, he and his companions, in a few days, dragged their weary limbs into the settlement, where, on December 17th, 1845, they were welcomed, tended, and re-clothed by the commandant, Captain Macarthur.” P332

“ His romance was to the effect that about the year 1852 he was wandering in search of gold through what is now the Northern Territory. There he made friends with the native tribes, amongst whom at length he discovered a white man; this was no other than Classan, the relative of Leichhardt, who was second in command of the lost explorer’s final expedition. He was now detained by the blacks, who jealously watched him and rendered communication by Hume difficult, and even dangerous. Nevertheless, Classan entrusted Hume with an MS. containing an account of the expedition; this Hume lost. But he was uneasy in his mind, he was anxious to leave prison and go in quest of Classan. Some credence was given to this story. Hume went north on his quest, and nothing more was heard of him till the middle of 1874 when he arrived from the north by steamer in Brisbane, and narrated to the local press a continuation of his romance. He had gone to the Roper River, whence he had penetrated alone to the head of Sturt’s Creek and there found Classan, still with the blacks and now much aged, with long white hair and beard. As Classan could speak no English, and Hume no German, verbal communication was impossible. Therefore, Hume started for a station of the overland telegraph line, then in course of construction, procured writing materials, and plunged afresh into the bush. He had some difficulty in reaching his man, as the blacks had moved off with him to the head of the Fitzroy River; but there he found him, and received from him Leichhardt’s diary of seventy-two foolscap pages, together with a statement in his own writing of sixty pages.” P342

“ Thursday Island, the Ultima Thule of north Queensland civilisation, is not reached until Cape York has been fairly rounded and passed. The island, situated in the southern part of Torres Straits, is the site of an outpost rather than of a settlement. Its own resources are nothing. For the existence of the residents, it is dependent chiefly upon official and maritime resources. As a coaling station, a port of call, and a harbour of refuge, its importance can scarcely be over-estimated. It is also the head-quarters of the pearl-shellers, whose fleets of dapper little luggers and schooners resort thither for their periodical renewal of stores and their discharge of nacreous spoils. Hence, also, expeditions to New Guinea take ordinarily their final departure. The Queensland Government here maintains a police magistrate and a sub-collector of customs, each officer multiplying his functions; while the one acts as harbourmaster the other combines the duty of savings bank officer, shipping master, and registrar of the "district." A couple of hotels, the store of Messrs. Burns, Philp and Co., a firm almost, ubiquitous and omnipotent in northern Queensland and New Guinea coastal affairs, with two hotels, the official and a scattered sprinkling of other residences, constitute the town, such as it is —the nucleus possibly of the future great entrepot of Torres Straits. All steamers trading from eastern Asia, India, and Europe, to Australia, via the northeast coast, call here.”
“It was hence that Sir Thomas M’Ilwraith, when Premier of Queensland, despatched Mr. Chester, the then police magistrate, to annex New Guinea to the British dominions. The situation on Vivian Point, the southwest extremity of the island, is picturesque; the climate is healthy, and the tropical situation assures regular alternation of seasons, the dry season lasting with the southeast monsoon —from March till December —and the wet season from December till March. Of the western coast of Cape York Peninsula, very little is known, and that little is piecemeal knowledge obtained by officers and crews of small vessels trading to the towns on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Occasionally, wood or water running short in such vessels, landings are made, but no published information respecting the character of the shores is existent, and on the maps the old names of the Dutch explorers still remain.” P405.

Text: "Picturesque Atlas of Australasia 1886"