Pages from the Ournal Ofa Queens and Squatter

PAGE S F ROM THE JOURNAL OF A

Q UE E NS L AND SQ UATTE R

Pages fromthe ournal

OF A

Q u een s an d Squ atter

O S C AR DE S ATG E

WI TH I LL U S TR A TI ONS

L O N DON

H U R S T A N D B L A C K E TT , L I M I T E D

I 3 G R E AT M AR L B O R O U G H S TR E E T

1 9 0 1

A l l r ig/1 15 r cscr wd

D E D I C A T E D

S I R ROBE T GE ORGE WYNDHAM HE RBE RT R ,

G G E L O L D O O C ’ D O C O ’ L O O ,

F I N R S T P R E M I E R OF Q U E E N S L A D ,

AN D A U S E F U L F R I E N D TO THAT C OL ON Y E VE R S I N CE .

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C O N T E N T S .

C HA R

I N TR T R ODUC O Y . .

— I T R I A I . V C O

I I — M R V . O E TO N B AY I A S YD N E Y

I - F I R T TA TE F B H L I I . S S O U S I F E

7 — “ I \ . A TR I P TO TH E N E V E R N E V E R

V — D A R L I N D W N . G O S

V —D R Y G W I . O I N E X P E R I E N C E S I TH CA TT L E

V - I I . L I V E R OO L L A I N A N D L L A N GO L L E N P P S ,

W A L E S

I — I I . TH E N A I V MO ,

I X — TR T H . A I P TO E D A R L I N G

—P R X . I O N E E I N G I N C E N TR A L QU E E N S L A N D

X L — L I P E O N P E A K DO W N S

— \ I E L A W L E D E E I N E A R L D A XI I . S O SS DS Y YS

XM L — TO T H E S TH F O R A R E T A N D B A T H E D W N OU S , CK BY O S

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VI — I N I T I AT I N O I " R E P N I B L E G m ' E a cN T I N E E N X . O S O S Q U S

L A N D 1 860 - 6 , 9

’ ' ‘ — E E N L A N I A R L I A M E N I A R Y L I F E XV I I . QU S D

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— W W A I< D l l o " XI X. E S T

— C O R E E A AN D T HE \ E ' I ‘ XX . N V S C ONTE NTS . C H A R — XXL F A R E W E L L TO P E A K D OW N S

I I - H E W A R B N A N D L D XX . OM D OU D O E N G L A N D AG A I N

I I — B A T XX I . CK O

— I I — XXI V . V S TS TO TH E D A R L I N G DOW N S S TOCK I N G UP CO R E E N A

I N C I D E N TS OF L I F E T HE R E

— A H R T TR I TH— N E M E L R N E H A R T XXV. S S S O P OU YD Y , BOU , OB

\ I -A R A A A N D D A R L I N G D OW N S R E V I I TE XXV . M C S D

I I — S E C N TR I I I OM E A N D B A TH E C A E XXV . O D P CK BY P

—R E R E E N TATI N OF THE M I T HE L L XXVI I I . P S O C

I — A R L I A E N T A N D L AN L AW XX X . P M D S

— TH E ATTL E I N TR XXX . C DUS Y

— L N R R — TH E E R I N A A N D T HE L F XXXI . C O CU Y G O G GU

— A H R T I I T I N 1 8 - I 8 TO A L A N E R TH I I . S XXX O V S 93 94 B Y , P ,

A E L AI E M E L R N E S N E D D , BOU , YD Y ,

— TH E E E L R I V E R XXXI I I . P L A I N I L U S T R T O S .

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E . A N D 0 . D E S ATG E 1 8 , 53 5

T H E TR E A R M E L R N E — A R R I VA L O F L E R T 1 8 2 I SU Y , BOU GO D SCO , 5 3

S YD N E Y HA R BOU R F R OM GO V E R N M E N T HOUS E 23

B R I A N E 1 862 2 SB , 7

B R I SBA N E F R OM B OW E N TE R R AC E 3 1

I N E A L E L A N TATI N B R I AN E P PP P O , SB 3 5

T HE D A R L I N D W N — F R E E T N E C R E E N E AR W A R W I G O S S O K , CK 59

T R AV E L L I N C ATTL E E E N L A N I G , QU S D 7

T R AV E L L I N S H E E E E N L A N 77 G P , QU S D

C O L L A R OY S H E E P 99

B U L L OCK TE A MS W I TH W OO L I O9

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W 1 2 B L A G I N L W E R N A I N . S . . 3 CK , , O MO ,

H U T O N TH E D A R L I N G R I V E R I 9-7

L E I HA R T I N W . AS S K E TC I I E D E A R A N E F R TH E N . P K G OM , BY C D

A N A R 1 8 J U Y , 45

R OC K I I A M P TO N I N

TA L E M N TA I N E A R A N G E B OU , P K

W O L F A N C P E A E A D W N K , P K O S

N R T H S HO R E S D N E A E M I L N E S . J M S SO , Q , O , Y Y

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O N C L A Y E R ' I O N DO W N S R U N I L L USTKA TJ ONS.

S P R I N GSU R E M OU N TA I N

H R E TE A S R I N R E O S MS , P GSU

S I R G E O R G E AN D L A DY

M R R E R T W R R . HE E T OB G . . B

S E N E N E AR T W A E E N L AN C OO OOMB , QU S D

S I R A R TH U R HU N TE R PAL M E R

M A R Q U I S AN D M A R C H I O N E SS O F N O R M A N BY

M A R I N L A E E N L AN K G MBS , QU S D

K AN GA R OO HU N TI N G

S AL TE R N C R E E W L H E A N D TE A E E N L AN K OO S D MS , QU S D

S AL TE R N C R E E S H R N S H E E E E N L AN K ( O P), QU S D

QU E E N S L AN D N ATI V E B E A R A N D Y OU N G

D AM M A K I N G OU T

R W R AN I N . W . A E C R E S N E . S D CK C OU S , YD Y ,

S I R F R E D E R I C W E L D K ,

B R E E C N TR B A R E E N L AN O OU Y , COO , QU S D

CATTL E ON TH E N R TH E R N L A I N E E N L A N O P S , QU S D

S E N E ON D I A A N TI N A L A E W E TE R N A T R AL I A C M K S , S US

E E N L A N C L B R I AN E QU S D UB , SB

B R I A N E 1 8 8 F R A R L I A E N T H E SB , 9 , OM P M OUS S

TH E PE E L R I V E R E STATE — HOM E STE A D B U I L D I N GS

TH E PE E L R I V E R E STATE — W OO L S HE D A N D B U I L D I N GS

W OOL S H I C I R C L A R A S N E P , S U QU Y , YD Y

M A P S P AG E S F ROM THE J OU RN AL OF

A U E E N S L AN D S U A Q Q TT E R .

TR DU T R Y IN O O O .

THE S E wh ich e mbr a ce r th ir t reminiscences , ove y A years of ustralian pastoral life and adventure , were written at the request of my friends . First comes a short glimpse of Victoria , then the scene is laid in

New South Wales , then on to Queensland , where I spent many years in assisting to pioneer its central and western districts , of which my tale is somewhat of a record . 1 85 3 I In , when I landed as a youth in Victoria , was a bl e to get a knowledge of its go l d ﬁe l d s in full

Th e A swing . ustralian colonies did not carry then

- one ﬁ f th of their present population . Railways were only commencing to be thought of agriculture and its kindred industries were conﬁned to the wants of the growing population ; fencing for pastoral purposes was unknown ; Victorian Vineyards were

I m n o w still planted , and the exports that are re habilitating Victoria after a period of depression

Th e were in embryo . colony was absorbed in its

o l d ﬁ el d s h g , which were t en entirely of an alluvial O U R zVAL A UE E A A TTE j OF Q NSL ND SQ U R .

r character , such as Balla at , Bendigo , Beechworth ,

I vo r C , M c , astlemaine canvas towns at the time , but e long since chang d to ﬁne municipal cities , forming railway centres and enj oying to the full the beneﬁts of the most civilized communities . When I went north to New South Wales at the

en d 1 85 4 of , the freshness of ﬁrst settlement was not

so apparent . For Sydney, with its comparatively

ancient houses and narrow and picturesque streets ,

relieved by occasional good public buildings , bore

out its reputation as the mother of the Australias . Th e ﬁrst railway then only extended to the foot of

the Blue Mountains , and the vast inland pastures to

the west of them , though long explored and taken

up by pastoralists as lessees from the Crown , were unfenced and only partly stocked and that chieﬂy

t - wi h cattle , the great wool growing industry of the

present day being then a comparatively small affair . Artesian boring had not been essayed and other pastoralist developments were of a primitive charac a ter . C pital had not found its way into the country

to the extent it has now , and the freeholds of such districts as R ive r in a and Liverpool Plains had not been secured as they afterwards were by their tenants ; the shepherd had not given way to the

n bou dary rider , and still folded his ﬂock in bough yards at night to keep them safe from the predatory

native dog .

Now everything has changed . Over a hundred millions of pounds is reckoned to have been invested

U E A TE jO R JVAL OF A Q U E NSL ND SQ UA T R .

people and with a well - dredged waterway from the s e a capable of carrying ships of tons to the r iver wharves of a city that could not , ﬁfty years a o r g , have eceived a vessel of a ﬁfth of that ton

n . age Inland , over miles of narrow gauge but serviceable railways have worked wonders in

the development of the colony , and there has been more than an equal expenditure of capital on the

Th e land , chieﬂy for pastoral purposes . gold industry— quartz mining— is of a permanent and growing character , whilst the frozen meat trade is

a great feature , and in the southern part of Queens d land , airying and wheat growing are attaining

c reditable proportions . It is in Queensland that most o f the scenes o f

pastoral life that I have herein described are laid , and I can vouch for th e accuracy o f the incidents and adventures that ﬁll in the useful years that I

have been spared to spend in that splendid colony .

Y Y H AR B R VI E W I N S DN E OU .

C H A P T E R I

T A VIC ORI .

TOWAR DS 1 8 5 3 the end of February , , my brother and

r es a n u sta d o mi I , yielding to the g of a consider able household , determined to try our fortunes in

A a ustr lia , where the gold discoveries had attracted many who like ourselves had a spirit of adventure .

We were healthy , strong and active , respectively nineteen and seventeen years old , and had been educated at Rugby School , a fact which we have ever recollected with pride in our wanderings and work . T b It was the Rugby of ait and Goul urn , still impregnated with the educational genius of the A great Arnold . mongst the masters we had such

B o n a m T as Bradley , Benson , Cotton , y Price , heodore VVa l r o n d and others who became celebrated me n ; whilst the leading scholars numbered a Parry ,

n Goschen , Bowe , Fisher and Sandford , distinguished T names in the Church , Politics and Law . his fact

we made Rugby a famous school , and could well exclaim on bidding it farewell Floreat B ughea . We took our depar ture from England in one of

’ Wi r a m s E ssecu a n Money g liners , the , East India O U R N AL A E E A T j OF Q U NSL ND SQUA TE R . man commanded by an irascible but excellent captain , John Bohun Martin , who some twelve

L o n d o n years later went down in the , an auxiliary

steamer of the same line , on her ﬁrst voyage , when

she was swamped in the Bay of Biscay , having been overloaded with railway iron— Plimsoll not

having in those days appeared on the scene . We

u d had a tedio s voyage of over ninety ays , and can well recollect the salt pork r egime of those sailin g

days , and contrast them with the luxury of travel afforded in the present day by the magniﬁcent steamers that have succeeded the sailers of bygone times— a luxury that n o w enables you to get to

Melbourne from London within the month . Towards the end of Ma y we f ound ourselves at P ort Philip Heads , and were tugged up the narrow

- water way some forty miles , to anchor at the mouth

S a n d r id o e e of the Yarra , close to , amongst a gr at ﬂeet of ships of all nations— crack clippers many

— Th e L i h tn in fl l a r eo P o l o R ed J a cket of them g g, , ,

B l u e J a cket and others , that followed the breezes

- 400 far south , and circle sailed their miles a day

As on some occasions . a suburb of the Mel “ b o f . ourne that day , Canvas town still existed T his gave a Bohemian air to the whole p lace , which the glitter o f its American bars and the rowdyism

' of its lucky diggers tended still further to e xa g

i gerate . Money was quickly made and qu ckly spent

in those days . My brother soon determin ed to push further

8 I A V C TORI .

north for the new colony of Moreton Bay , where he had letters to some of the squatters resident i there , wh le I was tempted to try the Public Service

h . wit a letter of introduction to Mr Latrobe , who was then the Governor of Victoria . After waiting patiently for a few weeks , during which I explored w the city and its suburbs , on some of the s amps of which I had some good duck shooting , I obtained

c flice a clerkship in the of Captain Wright , the Chief Th Commissioner of Gold Fields . e salary was two hundred a year , with a gratuity of one hundred a w year for house rent , hich enabled me to boast that I earned three hundred a year when I was seven teen years old ; though no doubt it wa s chiefly to the scarcity of educated young men that I owed my good fortune ; most of them no doubt were t r vin g their luck at Bendigo , Castlemaine , Ballarat or some other mining centre of that Victorian period , and looked at that time with contempt at quill driving when they could handle a pick , though the w time came , I had cause to know later on , hen they would gladly have e xchanged the pick for the pen . Early the following year I was ordered from the Melbourne offi ce to reinforce the Gold Commis ’ sio n e r s ffi O ce at Bendigo , to which we had a toilsome journey of 100 miles over a boggy road I t which included the celebrated Black Forest .

a n d was our ﬁrst experience of camping out , we were pre tty merry over it ; one could n o t h e l p jO U R N A L OF A Q UE E NSLA N D SQUA TTE R . being struck with the n umber and variety of teams that crowded that road , and the cruelties often practised on the draught horses , the idea being that the best way to make a jibbing horse shift his load l t was to ight a ﬁre under him un il he did so . Years

wa s after I told , when the iron horse traversed the F Black orest , that two skeletons had been found tied to trees about half a mile from the road , “ ” which must have meant the sticking up o f a

Th e couple of returning diggers . Black Forest had a very bad name , and as we had to walk most of th e way through it owing to the nature of the roads , we long recol lected its dism a l track and j aded

. e horses How ver , we arrived on the third day at the outskirts of Bendigo , of which we had heard so much , and soon took in the country , which had — the appearance of gigantic ant hills , the earth being turned up in all directions , leaving the bare space ’ of the roadway free from diggers holes . We were highly excited , I recollect , and like true new chums began to look for specks of the shiningmetal on either side of the road . It was some time before the feverish excitement of being on a gold ﬁeld subsided , but we were soon ’ r e ca l l e d b y our duties at the Commissioner s Camp , which we found well situated on a commanding ridge from which we could see miles of the upturned

s . land cape , with tents and an occasional barked hut “ Th e Camp consisted of wooden barracks built for a battalion of the 40th regiment (we had

1 0

R N AL A E E jO U OF Q UE NSLAND SQUA TT R.

charge of the Resident (or Chief)Commissioner , with a staff of five or six Assistant Commissioners residing at various out - stations on a field that extended to over fifty square miles of country . This R esident

Commissioner at the time , and for some years after , A was John nderson Panton , than whom the Queen

e never had a more zealous , g nial or capable Colonial servant . Well do I recollect the encouragement he gave to all who served under him , whether Com

a missioner , Clerk or Orderly , and after a l pse of

- nearly ﬁfty years , I can well recall his tall , well knit

Al ma ck ﬁgure , as , mounted on his ﬁne grey horse ,

t o ff ff he used to star with his sta , to visit his large T district . ime , I am glad to say , has dealt well with him as I write , and he still serves his Queen as the

o f Police Magistrate the great city of Melbourne . A Of the Commissioners and ssistant Commissioners , a good many had been in the service , and were

F . . a mostly scions of good family , such as C St ndish , D Mackenzie , owling and Bernal , the latter a brother

Th e fﬁ of Bernal Osborne . o cers of the Victorian P Mounted olice were also a good class , and the force itself a ﬁne soldierly one , well drilled and mounted ,

’ a n d I don t know h o w the Victorian Gold Fields in those days would have been kept in order without

Th e e - them . Insp ctors and Sub Inspectors ranked with the Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners

of Gold Fields , and these all worked well together for the protection of life and property at a time when California was sending over t o Australia the scum of

o l d ﬁ el d s t o its g , which it was difﬁcult restrain and

in keep order . p As far as Bendigo went , however , Lachlan

McL a ch l a n , the famous Police Magistrate , helped h to do t is in a wonderful manner Bendigo Mac , as he was called , was a terror to evil doers , and

i I n unerr ng his discrimination of culprits . At this

3 0s . time , the monthly license fee of a month pressed heavily on those who were not in luck ; it ﬁ was a tax dif cult to collect , the process being , in

- fact , a good deal like a rat hunt , the non holders of licenses bolting down the diggers ’ holes on the approach of the Police Escort . It was my duty often to act as Licen sing Clerk and to be r e spo n sible for large sums of money collected in the

Licensing Booth , an unpleasant job with crowds d T pressing to be served on certain ays . hese “ Licensees comprised a ll sorts and conditions of

” men , Indians , Chinese , and Maoris being con spic u o u s in the crowd that pressed round the

- licensin g booth . T his arid part of Victoria , with its quartz gullies and iron bark ridges , was terribly hot in the summer

d r months , and it was at Ben igo that I ﬁ st realised A the extent of ustralian heat , especially when , as wa s often the case , bush ﬁres raged in the neighbour

hood . We managed as well as we could in our

- W carpet lined tents , and on the hole made the best

wa s t n of circumstances ; still I not sorry , af er ine

t o e t o t h e ﬁ months of Bendigo , be transf rred of ce of O U E N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

C P the lerk of arliaments in Melbourne , my journey ’ back to town being by Cobb s coach , an improve ment to the cart I had travelled u p through the

Black Forest with . M When I got back to elbourne , I was glad to look

up my friend , Mrs . Greene of Woodlands , one of

those charming Victorian country houses , about M w ﬁfteen miles from elbourne , where ithout being

quite in the bush , you were well out of the glare and bustle of town ; Melbourne not having yet started its palatial suburbs . Mrs . Green e was kind ness itself, and used to rouse me in time to walk in fﬁ ’ to the o ce , some ﬁfteen miles of a summer s day ’ before nine o clock , after spending an occasional

Sunday in the shade of that Deep Creek Garden .

Mr s . Greene was the mother of two distinguished colonists , Rawdon Greene , whose life was sacriﬁced M to squatting adventure in the far north , and oles

Me l worth Greene , who dwells on his estate near bourne , and there continues the hospitable family traditions , surrounded by a charming family , and following ever the bent of his literary tastes . I liked my new duties in Melbourne , and have pleasant fﬁ recollections of my superiors in o ce ; one of them , my friend Comyns , a fearless and splendid rider , used to give me an occasional mount . One of the pleasantest recollections of that time were the Sunday evening meetings I was privileged

o f to attend , at the house the Dean of Melbourne ,

Dr . Macartney , who died only recently considerably I CT I A V OR .

o ver ninety years old . A number of his young men friends used to meet and read the Bible , each a w verse in turn ith remarks , which the Dean in his

. co fl e e turn elucidated His daughter dispensed , and we used to disband with a glow of satisfaction ,

. A mental and physical , after these meetings rthur ’ Macartney, the Dean s eldest son , was destined to s e e a good deal of Queensland thereafter , of which c olony he became a hard - working pioneer and de

t e r min e d . explorer I also remember , at those Sun A d a Mr . y meetings , Stawell , who became ttorney G V eneral , and later on Chief Justice of ictoria , a n d who as Sir William Stawell , left an honourable m name to his nu erous family . Lady Stawell was l a daughter of Mrs . Greene . Sir William Stawel wa s a thoroughly good ma n . Th e characteristics of Victoria in the early days t I speak of she s ill retains her new generation , bred

U p in the last ﬁfty years , are hardy , sanguine and s Th e d iﬂe r s N e w peculative . Victorian from the S outh Welshman in that he is inclined to spend

r his money as fast as he makes it . Natu e has

t t o r been boun iful Victo ia in soil and climate , t although she is somewhat restric ed in her territory , a n d would no doubt be the better of the dearly prized R ive r in a which encircles h e r with a ﬁ r m

b u t N e w o \V grasp ( which her mother , S uth ales ,

Al l t h e o r does n o t intend to relax). Vict ian soil

d o c e r is goo , and the climate and rainfall m re tain a n d e r N e w S o \Va l cs equable than that of ithe uth ,

1 7 O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQU R .

Th A . e Q ueensland , or South ustralia fortunate R ive r in a man does not go to Sydney (his colony) T to spend his money ; he prefers living at oorak , near Melbourne , in some of those exquisite suburban houses where an electric tram - car keeps h im in touch with the Melbourne Club , and his complexion

’ and digestion a re not likely to su ﬂe r by extremitie s

a n d of climate , where society opens its arms with the utmost cordiality to travellers from every clime . A b griculturally , Victoria prospers v leaps and

h e r bounds ; dairying possibilities are enormous , and she may sh o r tl v become a second Denmark . She is exporting to England in millions the rabbits

h a s which once threatened to devastate her . She b h great possi ilities in eggs and poultry , for whic

England s ends y early many millions to France . l Her wines and her brandies are famo u s . In woo of e xtraordinary ﬁneness she cannot be approached

E r cil d o u n e M (vide and ount Bute), and if her alluvial

o l d ﬁ e l d s n o w g are nearly worked out , she is only

o f developing her quartz mining reefs , with facilities carriage and fuel and water that enable her t o receive excellent results from l o w grade ores that . would not , perhaps , pay in any other colony .

I will say good - bye to Victoria for a time ; I shall revisit h e r later on .

O U R N AL A E E N A A TTE j OF Q U SL ND SQ U R . a n d n Syd ey in those days were , I need not say , very small as compared to those doing that service later o n a n d m n , y means of tra sport on that occasion was

Go ver n o r Gen er a l an old Yankee craft , the , carrying dangerous top hamper in the shape o f an upper deck that had a curious list as she rolled in the trough of a considerable sea . I was , I remember , uncommonly glad to get safely out of her after

n enteri g for the first time those Sydney Heads , which , for thirty years after , I was destined to steam in and out of under every condition of weather and fortune , and in all kinds of vessels I have gone out of Sydney Heads when the sea was raging outside , ’ and one had to steady one s nerves and footing as the ship took its first plu nge into what seemed a da n gerous abyss . It must ever be d iflicu l t to do full justice to Port ’ n Jackso , Sydney s great harbour , but it is better for

me to attempt it at this point of my narrative , and in doin g so I cannot do better than quote a remark ably accurate account o f it I came across in the

n Gl o be Lo don , from its Sydney correspondent , who

" writes with full mastery of the subject . He says “ It is a sight well worth a sea voyage of several

thousand miles to behold the harbour , with its

n - m ag iﬁcent lake like expanse of water , stretching

t e n m n aw ay eight or iles inland , formi g one of the

As natural beauties of the world . the eye wanders

n e alo g the vista , a succession of picturesqu and

Th e beautiful land scapes come u nder review . irre

20 M E TON B A Y OR .

u l a r it g y of the shores , the luxuriant verdure with which the hills are clothed ; the innumerable villa residences nestling cosily on the slopes of the cliff s — which form the general outline of the bays surrounded with exquisitely laid - out gardens ﬁ lled m with plants and fruits from al ost every clime , form Th a panorama of singular beauty . e waters of t h e port are of a depth sufﬁ cient for the largest ship

o aﬂoat to man euvre in ; vessels drawing 27 f t . can enter the Heads at dead low water with perfect safety ; while as regards its capacity , it is not surpassed by any other haven . It is surrounded b y a hundred or more bays , inlets , and creeks , the scenery around each being of a most ch arming character . Many of these bays form , of themselves , capacious harbours , some of them extending inland

Th e for miles . main waters are dotted over with glittering islets , which add to the exquisite grandeur b of this no le estuary , while they form no impediment to navigation . Th e entrance to the harbour is about a mile in width . On either side the rocks rise up to a great height , forming a natural gateway . So completely is the harbour shut in , that until an entrance is

f n fairly ef ected , its capacity and safety ca not even be

n Th co jectured . e North Head rises with singular

Th e abruptness to a height of about 3 00 ft . outer

l -I e a d South , immediately under the Macquarie Light

f t b u t a n w 3 5 0 . house , rises to elevation of u p ards of

d i w o r t h e r the rocks p to ards the n th , until , at inne

21 O U R N AL OI " A E E A A T E j Q U NSL ND SQU T R .

entrance to the bay , where a ﬁxed coloured light

t n Ot 0 90 8 . stands , the eleva ion is more than or ft

Immediately opposite the entrance stands a bold ,

rocky promontory , Middle Head , which , wh en viewed

from a distance at sea , gives to the harbour an appear

l in ance of comparatively sma l dimensions , a mere w dentation of the coast , hich deceived even the At experienced eye of Captain Cook . the further end of the harbour are the entrances to the P aramatta and Lane Cove rivers , the former being that on which the leading Australian rowin g and

sculling contests take place . Both streams pass

t h e through scenery of loveliest description , the Lane Cove river being famous for its profusion of

’

ferns and beautiful native ﬂowers . On oue side of

M n n iddle Head is an inlet , extendi g a windi g course m of several iles , between lofty precipitous slopes

w e t h e cover ed ith primeval for st , and from ridges of which may be seen the blue waters of the Paciﬁc

y Ocean , stretching away until the appear to blend

” with the sunlit sky on the distant horizon . This excellent description conveys recent impres

sions , and is the more valuable on that account , as

nearly ﬁfty years ago , the villas that dotted the various points were not so numerous nor the gardens

t n o w l so orna e as they are , though the great natura

beauties were the same . I stopped a few days in Sydney intensely interested d f at everything I saw , marking the if erence of its more sett led pop u lation and institutions from those

M E T B A OR ON Y.

of Melbourne , but I had not then the time or the experience which I had in later years to form con e lusions of value . I had picked up a friend on board who directed me to an hotel on Church Hill

’ ' I d o n t k n o w and took me about , and what I should “ ” have done without him . It was blazing hot , locusts sang in the trees , and the waves of the harbour glittered in the radiant atmosphere of mid

th e summer in southern hemisphere . I remember V isiting the theatre , where I saw Sir Charles Fitzroy ,

t - then Governor of the Colony , a stou , jolly loo king

h is man , who had lost wife (a daughter of the Duke f ew of Richmond)a years previously, by a carriage

o f accident , in coming out of the gate th e old

Government Residence at Paramatta , when the four in - l hand driven by Sir Charles , who was a skilfu whip , swung round so sharply at the turn of the lodge

a - - g te , that both Lady Mary and the aide de camp ,

Mr . Chester Master , were thrown out and killed . It happened curiously that my destination in Moreto n

Bay was the station property which , managed by my

. b brother , was owned by Mr Ro ert Chester Master , a brother of the aide - de camp who had met his death by that accid ent . I was only two or three days in Sydney before I shipped myself on for Moreton Bay and the the n nascent town of Brisbane in the new screw steame r

B o o mer a n r w g, so called from the fact that her sc e

r propeller wa s boomerang shaped , an ex pe iment , I

I n e h n o t . believe , t at did eventually succeed aft r E A TE jo U R N /I L OE A QUE NSLAND S Q U T R . times I had many a steam up and down the northern

a coast in the old B o o mer n g. She was commanded by

’ O R e il l wh o a Capt ain y, was lready a favourite on

wh o that line an excellent fellow , , after being senior m A . . captain of the . S N Co pany , became its Bris

a n d bane agent , died there from the loss of his eye , ’ c aus ed by a spark from a passenger s pipe . I wonder such a ccid ent s were not more frequent in those days of re ckless smoking on board , anywhere and every where .

B o o mer a n On board the g, I came across by good luck some n ear neighbours of my brother ; they had been to Sydney on a short holiday, and told me my brother was considered a very smart ma n and good

u rider , and in fact co ld , they believed , ride a buck j umper , a statement I found made by Bushmen always with due gravity . Besides these neighbours , I m a de the acquaintance on board of a f ormer head of the Government of New South Wales , Sir Stuart

a n Don ldso , a polished and accomplished man , who

n u A was taki g p his ward , young lick Riley , to take possession of his property , Clifton , which oddly

u a d o in e d Ma n o o l a eno gh j g , the station I was going to ,

u l n a ro gh range on y dividi g them . Sir Stuart made himself most agreeable and was full of anecdote and m . As A hu our for lick Riley, he was a splendid specimen of the highly educated new generation of New South Wales , and one could not help being t fascina ed by his companionship . When we got up

we me t to our respective stations , often for a time ,

M E T B A OR ON Y. w and had many a pleasant camp together , henever business or pleasure tempted us to exchange calls .

a l l - Like native born colonists , Riley was very fond “ - of horses and had a notable jumper , Bing eye , who thought nothing of clearing all the paddock fences at Clifton and Te n t e r fi el d . I was sorry to learn in after years that Riley had died in his prime . l His father had imported to their p ace , Raby , a “ noted horse called Skeleton , from whom some of the best blood in New South Wales claimed descent . I was sorry when our pleasant trip to Brisbane came to an end the weather had been magnificent , the sea like glass , and the coast line interesting to me who saw it for the first time . Th e B o o mer a n g had to wait a bit at the pilot station o ff Moreton Island for high water to cross the bar , and then make her way slowly and carefully through the buoyed channel of Moreton Bay on to the mouth of the

Brisbane river, which is about thirty miles from

Brisbane .

w t n It is not easy , even i h the help of otes taken ’ at the time , to carry one s memory back over forty years and describe accurately what Brisbane was 1 8 5 4 in , but it had small claim then to become the

Th e city it is now . city had been well laid out , but its improvements were then limited to odd wooden buildings marking here and there the delineation of

W a u the ide streets , with occasion lly a brick b ilding , and ﬁrst amo n gst these t h e huge and ugly old convict barracks which housed the various Govern

29 O U R N AL A E E AN A TTE j OF Q U NSL D SQ U R .

ﬁ ment of ces , besides doing duty for Immigration

t h e barracks , and , later on , for ﬁrst Legislative

o r 1 8 5 4 n Chambers . F in there was o Queensland as a Colony , but only Moreton Bay as a province of

N e w South Wales , with a Government Resident VVi k h m c a R N . (Captain , ) directing the simple and inexpensive government of this northern province . Th e navigation of the Brisbane River from its mouth b d had not een dre ged as it is now , and only small vessels could come up with the tide and anchor Th at the wharves . ere was no bridge across the river , only punts and ferries , and the roads inland over the little Liverpool Range and the main range on to the Darling Downs were in wet seasons T veritable sloughs of despond . here was a detach 1 2th ment of the Regiment , which marked a measure o f Imperial protection , and , in fact , Moreton Bay was slumbering , waiting to spring into the life she received as t h e separate Colony of Queensland 1 9 in 8 5 .

w o f Ho ever , the site the city cannot be chal lenged ; it nestles on many hill s commandin g the w windings of a beautiful river, a good deal ider T s than the hames at London Bridge . Modern Bri

o u bane clusters the north side of the river , and if it is by no means as level as Melbourne or Th A a . e del ide , it is all the more picturesque river

v frontages , and these are extensi e owing to the

t h e ﬂ windings of river , are chie y taken up by wharves , excepting always the central bend of the

3 0

M E T OR ON B A Y.

river , on the banks of which the beautiful Botanical

Gardens are laid out , and near which the Govern ment House and Legislative Chambers are built .

Th e Government House lies somewhat low, favour ing the mosquitoes in summer , so there was , not many years ago , a talk of building a new one on some of the heights dominating the town , where most of the merchants have built themselves houses .

o Indeed , Brisbane is n exception to the rule of other colonial capitals , viz . , to live as much as possible out of town after you have done your business in it .

in Notwithstanding errors of judgment , and , l colonia parlance , much log rolling , the last forty d vears have one more for Brisbane than , perhaps , Th any other Australian capital . e river has been dredged . to accommodate the liners of most of the

A in great steam companies trading to ustralia ,

B . Co . cluding the ritish India S N . , which holds the

mail contract , and railways have taken the place of the infamous roads which the earlier settlers traversed to get to the great western plains that

Th e form the pastoral backbone of Queensland . c onstruction of the southern line of r a ilway and that of the South Wester n line to Charlevil le h a ve

r n O sent B isbane ahead imme sely , and pened the inland trafﬁ c to the agricultural areas of the Darling

w o Downs , hich have enabled meat and ther factories around Brisbane t o make sure o f a su pply o f

o o d o material . Everything that legislati n c uld has

3 3 U R N AL A E E A A TE jO OF Q U NSL ND SQ U T R .

been done for the chief town of the Colony , which now includes in city and suburbs , a population equal

- ﬁf th o f to that of over one of the whole the Colony .

Of course , Brisbane is not a central capital , and

‘ so b u t in it can never be , it is the centre of that sout hern and more thickly populated portion of the C l olony that is east tropical in its attributes , and ,

f o r n therefore , the most attractive permane t resi

Th e n dence . norther portion of Queensland , though

teeming with mineral and other wealth , be it well k understood , lac s the more southern inducements to

live in it all the year round , though parts of it hav e the attraction of considerable altitude and it s

accompanying temperature . My arrival in Brisbane was marked with the pleasant hospitality of the owner of the station I

t o l was going earn my colonial experience upon , n Fra cis Robert Chester Master , who had been a Z 18 45 subaltern in the New ealand war of , and had

come to settle in Brisbane with his charming wife , a

o f daughter Hannibal Macarthur , one of the leading

families of New South Wales . Bob Master and his

me wife did all they could to cheer on my way , and h t ough it was very hot , I was charmed with my ﬁrst

B a - glimpse of Moreton y, with its semi tropical life V and glowing egetation , its pineapples and bananas ,

its sparkling atmosphere and stimulating heat , with cool nights and the skies of Italy ; whilst it was evident f rom the people I met that the country

i ﬁ r st - was be ng colonized by a rate set of men , a

3 4

TON M E A Y.

u - w fact , indeed , to which the Q eensland of to day o es much of its attraction .

AS m r to climate , of course it was midsum e , but

t s the heat was not enerva ing but timulating , the air perfectly translucent ; a n d I suppose the winter mont hs of Queensland give you the choice s t climate

m r t t h e in the world , a cli ate that will eve attrac invalid in search of a temperature and air where w the lungs take a holiday and do a minimum of ork , which is the case especially on the plateau of the

Darling Downs . A E R C H PT I I I .

FIRST TASTE OF BUSH LIFE .

AF TE R n spendi g a week with my kind hosts , the

Chester Masters , they found me , as an escort to

m me Warwick (where y brother was to meet ), the

Canning Downs sheep overseer , an excellent old fellow , who judiciously opened my eyes as to the

via life that was before me . Our road lay Limestone

(now called Ipswich), some ﬁve and twenty miles

n we from Brisba e , where stopped at a good country

n n inn , meeti g several Darling Dow s men on their

e way to town . Everything was new , and th refore

n interesting . I recollect bei g ﬁrst struck as we rode along with the number of ant hills t hat -lined the road like so many attenuated sentry boxes . Lime stone was a t the head of t h e n avigation of the

Brisbane River , and even then was the second town

B a . in Moreton y, and a considerable township Our journey from t here to Warwick lay through country

a l l that was well timbered , but the grass was very

dry , as there had been no rain for some time , and I was told it was the hottest time t h e v h a d known

3 8 I T TA TE B H I E F RS S OF US L F .

for several years . When we approached the Main w Range , twenty miles the Limestone side of War ick , it became cooler , and we enj oyed the change to the gigantic forest that shaded the ascent of the far ’ T famed Cunningham s Gap . hat useful timber , the w stringy bark and black butt trees , to ered above us d to the height of two to three hun red feet , and d created ense shadows , whilst the undergrowth con

in t a e d a great variety of other evergreen eucalypti . I heard for the ﬁ rs t time the cooing of the wonga ﬂ h wonga , and my eyes followed the ig t of various

- w gaudy coloured parrots and parroquets , hilst the harsh shriek of the cockatoo resounded through the

stillness of the primeval forest . It gave me a feeling i of del ghtful awe , and I did not forget for a long time this ﬁrst introduction to the great Liverpool w Range , hich , under one denomination or another , divides the eastern from the western waters in no less t han three of the Australian colonies — Queens

land , New South Wales , and Victoria . Ascending the range we met a l o t of bullock

r teams , some going up with ations , others coming

w a l l l th e down ith wool , but vigorous y combating Th A difﬁ culties of very rough road s . e ustralian

t o o bullock team does not yield moral persuasi n , so st r ong language and the resonant crack of the bullock whip play a gre a t part in t h e sto c k - in

w o I trade of a successful carrier, regarding h m was

e l l u e there and t hen considerably enlight ne d . g saplings w e re in a lm o st e ve r y cas e attached t o the

3 9 E A T E jO U R N AL OF A Q UE NSLAND SQ U T R .

descending loads to act as a drag . Teams in m Queensland generally travelled in co pany , so that

f r h they could af o d each other assistance , w ether in the crossing of creeks or the double banking

through boggy country , or the ascent of steep H pinches . owever the iron horse has long since then been doing the heaviest work of th e u p

ﬁ e t o country traf c , and carriag has long ceased be t h e bugbear it was in the old pioneering days . My mate and I were glad to lead our horses up ’ S o f the teep ascent Cunningham s Gap , then follow ing the windings of a rough and deeply - indented a ro d , with high spurs on either side , some of these cl othed with the many evergreens of the dense scrubs that formed in those days the hu nting grounds of the native blacks Th e ran ge once ascended we stood on the broad pla teau of the

n Darli g Downs , some ﬁfteen hundred to two thou

sand feet above the sea level , and breathed a cooler k atmosphere , whilst we loo ed upon a wider prospect . F rom this our j ourney to Warwick lay mostly

u thro gh open black soil downs , picturesquely dotted with clumps of timber ; these plains then formed

n portio s of Maryvale , Canning Downs and other

b u t stations , are now mostly cut up into prosper a ous farms , growing as he vy crops of wheat , maize ,

a n w barley , and oats as y other good land in ide

Australia . Th e third day from Brisbane thus saw our arrival

- at Warwick , now the chief town of South Eastern

40 I T TA TE B F RS S OF USH LI FE .

Darling Downs . In those days it boasted of a good

- general store or two , and a few comfortable public

houses . I bade a cordial farewell to my ﬁrst mate , ’ b a t s . L a and put up at Dr hospitable house , where Th I had been told to await my brother . e d octor

Au s was clever , eccentric , and abrupt , and like all tr a l ia n country doctors he was a friend a ll round and could give you the news of t h e d istrict co m

m r i l l e c a y as well as socially . When I arrived he had been called away to a fatal case of snake bite

n w w at Ella go an , and hen I met him he put me on

my guard regarding snakes , so I soon adopted the excellent habit of walkin g thro u gh the bush with my head down instead of up My stay at Dr . ’ L a ba t s wa s marked in my memory by meeting there William Beit on his way from Acacia Creek

L a n . e to manage Westbrook for J . D Mc . Beit gave

s - me a lot of hrewd as well as good natured advice , and I never felt astonished at the success that attended his career in after days .

In due course , my brother arrived , accompanied by a black boy , bringing spare horses to carry self and swag . It was delightful thus . to meet , after ’ w we eighteen months separation , during hich had respectively gleaned much information regarding t h e

\Ve resources of this n e w country of our a doption . yarned far into the night and found th a t we had A w both become smokers . s the davs ere extremely

a n we o o u r hot , my brother rra ged that sh uld make

ﬁ Ma n o o l a in t h e rst start for g evening , ride some

A l l O U A OF A E E A A TT j RN L Q U NSL ND S Q U E R .

m v twenty miles by moonlight and ca p out , lea ing some sixty - fi ve miles of our journey for the following T day . his was my first camp with the saddle as my pillow and the starry sky as a roof, about the best experience in that climate , if you are young, strong and fresh , as we then were . I heard the native dog or dingo howl for the first time , an unearthly cry , and one of them I found in the morning had tugged at and gnawed the bridle I had hung on a sapling a

o ff few yards . I was then also ﬁrst introduced to the hobbling and short hobbling of horse s and the application of a good bell that can be heard for over

o ff a mile to the greatest rambler of your mob , for there is no more important matter to the traveller than his being able to get his horses early , so as to make a good start . Some horses are inveterate

o f rogues , and seem to shy from the work that awaits them the next morning ; these it is best to keep for head station work , and not take them on a

Th e f —ﬁ ve journey . ollowing day we did the sixty miles all right , rather a long ride for a new chum on a hot day , and I was glad enough to turn into a good bed at M a n go o l a and dream of the new life

that lay before me . Th e country we traversed between Warwick and

M a n o o l a m g was lightly ti bered and sound , but very diff erent to the cou ntry we had left on the Darling k Downs it was chieﬂy box and iron bar ridges , with pebbly quartz scattered over them ; the country grew

ﬁne merino wool then , and presumably does so still ,

E E A A [ O URNA L OF A QU NSL ND SQU TTE R .

secure a brace of fat black duck , than which there is not a better game bird in Australia ; They seemed

e fﬁ w to ris with di culty , so plump ere they , and one

could not miss them , when they paused to steady

th emselves in the air for more rapid ﬂight . W e had t h e also quail on river ﬂats , but I had to look out for

’ ﬁ r st v e n t u r e snakes , for on my I nearly trod on one he was a black snake too , with a pink belly, the bite

n of which is held to be as fatal as a y. We had got

' t o M a n o o l a f o r w g j ust in time Christmas , hich was spent pleasantly together - we had grapes in the gard en and quantities of both rock and water

Th , . e melon station hands were few , and con sisted of a Chinaman cook , acting also as general servant , a stockman and his wife , and a couple

Ma n o o l a of black boys , natives of g , who could ride anything and , in bush parlance , could track a mosquito .

r Cattle stations , of course , were mo e cheaply

a n d e t managed , required far less exp ndi ure , than ’ sheep stations ; but , on the other hand , cattle don t d grow wool , and wool has been foun the only factor

to keep down the interest of money , which , like the

. T growth of wool , never slumbers herefore it is good to start with the maxim of borrowing very

inconsiderably , if you must borrow at all , on a cattle

station .

1 8 5 5 M a n o o l a I began at g , with the usual routine k wor of a cattle station , which is mustering and

branding the calves , starting fats to market , 44 I T TA TE B H I E F RS S OF US L F .

&c . breaking in horses , not having to bother what money was being made out of the cattle or the horses . For , at the ﬁrst start , it is the irresponsi bility o f the game that fascinates the new chum , and it is only later on , and when you become the manager or the owner t hat you begin to reason as to the proﬁt for your labour , and the returns from the property you have in hand . Such a property as Ma n go o l a

was bound to give a good return for its capital value ,

for that could not be large , whilst droughts did not a ﬁe ct it , as water , so important on a cattle run , was very plentiful and the markets of both Brisbane and d Maitland were good and within easy riving reach .

- w I have often thought , in after vears , hat a pleasant haven of rest th at station would be to an n u w ambitious settler , surrounded , as it could be , ith

cultivated areas of lucerne , so well ﬁtted for the

breeding of stud stock , and amidst all the comforts o f such a homestead and garden as could be reared

n o w. there . I have often wondered who has got it

Well , it may interest the youthful reader of these pages to know that I progressed fast in the art of

h v - riding , thoug I ne er got to riding a buck j umper w ﬁ ith absolute con dence , a feat which the black

boys , stockman , and also my brother , were able to

accomplish when occasion required . I got a lot of

spills , one of them rather a bad one , in trying to crack the s t o ck wh ip ; the whip go t r o und my ’ “ h e m horse s tail , and went to arket , giving me a

cropper from which I lay f o r some time stu n ned .

45 O U R N AL A E E A S A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND Q U R . My brother soon changed saddles and took it out of him . d We were at work , I will say that , from aylight to dark , no time to read or write letters , and with few hands there was always a job on hand for even a new chum , if it was only riding thirty miles to

Te n t e r ﬁ e l d for our post . Th e work I got to like

n best , however , was goi g after wild horses at the head of the run amongst the ranges . This entailed generally a breathless ride at full gallop of ten or “ n o ﬁfteen miles , and if we found it was by m means certain we should yard the o b . Of course our black boys played a great part in this work . Our mode of procedure was to camp somewhere near the spot where the horses were supposed to run , the black boys tracking them up , and knowing pretty certainly by the tracks when they had been there . Our horses were then either close hobbled or tethered for the night so as to tackle the wild mob in the morning as early as we could . After a light breakfast of beef and damper we would saddle up with unusual care , looking well to girth and ’ crupper , and make our start from the night s camp m as noiselessly as possible . So etimes over an hour would be spent in tracking up the horses that had perhaps changed their ground ; when , however , we came across their last night ’s camp we would pro ce e d with the utmost care , as the slightest noise

Th e might start the mob . moment the horses were

sighted , and I sometimes thought the black boys

46 F I T TA E O B RS ST F USH LI FE .

could see through a ridge , there was a ﬁnal girth up ,

t h e a placing of the pipe in the pocket , and orders were given by the head man , generally my brother , as t o the direction in which the mob was to be headed by the light weight of the party, who was “ ordered to take the ﬁrst pull at them . It was always , I recollect , thought best to give them a good V bursting at ﬁrst , though the ground was often ery d rough and dangerous , the ri ges thereabouts grow ing a S hort grass tree that not unfrequently would

' catch the horse s feet and send him ﬂying, giving you

a fall that at once put you out of the hunt . It was especially exciting when the mob was got down on

a n d the river ﬂats nearing the yards , for it was there the unbranded and wilder colts and ﬁ ll ies would ff make their e ort to break away , and we used to try and arrange to have a fresh hand ready waiting there t to tackle hem . When not j oining in the hunt ,

a fﬁ sometimes for w nt of a su ciently good nag , after

seeing the rails down and the yard ready , I used to listen intently for the ﬁrst crack of the distant st o ck wh ip announcing the approach of the wild ’ mob , soon to be followed by the rattle of the horses t feet . Some of the horses of en staggered with dis

tress against the stockyard rails after a big gallop . Of course the capture would be followed by a good deal of excitement in overhauling the mob th a t

o b u t might not only prove rich in unbranded c lts , include some gay old rogues th a t pre ferre d th e i r fr ee

r o . dom to eve yday work , and had been l ng missed O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF QU NSL ND SQ U R .

’ t h e r eco l We hadn t many visitors to station , but I lect to have greatly enjoyed the visit of Edward

A W ie n h o l t and rthur , who came for horses they had formerly purchased at Ma n go o l a . Th e friendship we formed then became a very lasting one , and we have carried it through in after life with much

Th e Wie n h o l t s pleasure to us both . were then commencing their long pastoral career , and laying the foundation of the large pro perties they have T since formed into an English company . ogether

ma n v with others I may in these pages refer to , they belonged to the old Darling Downs set , which

a is synonymous for high ch racter and good faith , not less than for every kind of enterprise and im provement in the culture of live stock .

A t a d f er goo turn amongst the cattle , my brother and I thought it best I should learn something about sheep , so I went over to Glenlyon to camp out with

l t a ambing ﬂock , and get there ini iated in the then

- good old fashioned system of lambing ewes by hand . Time has long since brought a change in thi s

n f respect , and the lambi g of the present day is le t to nature without assistance , and takes place in 1 l . 8 5 5 paddocks , the sma ler the better In the year

I write of, the ﬂock of dropping ewes used to be in charge of a careful man accompanied by a mate , who gathered in the day time the ewes whose lambs At had dropped that day . the main yard , which w a s of hurdles . there were a series of small yards for d iﬂe r e n t l mobs of ewes and ambs , according to their

48 I T TA TE B H I F E F RS S OF US L .

Th age . e longer you could keep the several drops w t apart the better they ould thrive , and in his employment I found , there and on the Namoi in

' bl a ck s a n d after years , that the their gins gave valuable and inexpensive help .

A w t h e In the present day in pastoral ustralia , ith huge prope r ties that are worked on a correspondin g

fi n d scale , it would be impossible to the slow and patient labour in the country required to lamb down by hand say from fifty to a hundred thousand ewes . Th e ewes are now left to lamb as undisturbed as pos sible in their paddocks , and fifty to eighty per cent .

s of lambs is considered a fair increa e , whilst in old shepherding d a ys I have on Liverpool Plains got as

much as a hundred per cent . from ﬂocks of about

ewes , which ﬂocks often lambed out to within

ﬁ ve per cent . of their ﬂock number . Of course the

d o e total extinction of the native g , or in more settl d

- s in e u a n o n districts the semi wild dog , is a q for a

fair lambing in paddocks , which must depend , after t h e essentials of green grass and water h a ve been w satisﬁed , upon the absence of ild dogs to give you wh at I have above stated is considered to be a fair

o l d lambing under the paddock system . Had the price of sheep been maintained it would have paid d squatters best to lamb by hand , notwithstan ing the

a n d ﬁ . wage list , thus get fteen to twenty per cent more lambs ; but now it is doubtful W hether t h e

n d l e game would be worth t h e c a .

I l e a d l e t h e O y and old Dunlop , sheep verseers I

49 L A E E A T jO U R N A OF Q U NSL ND SQUA TE R .

served under at Glenlyon , were both Scotchmen , and thoroughly understood the practical working of

a n i l S heep d the r habits . Later on I shal have occa sion to describe sheep—farming on a much larger s cale ; but I never regretted having been broken in at Glenlyon to follow ewes and lambs with a bough

t o h o bl r e f r a c t b e~ in my hand , , a p ru w

h e r s u ck l e a I had , moreover , to

do everything I was told , and many a mile have I

n b walked of a morni g , and that efore breakfast , after the hobbled horses of the overseer till the tinkle of the distant horse bell warned me I was approaching m the objects of y search , generally feeding on a bit

of sweet grass in some hidden gully . I also took a turn at sheep washing when shearing h time came round , w ich was a very rough operation

. in those days , and not unlike the. English process Th e mania for spout washing and steaming the S heep

had not set in , as it did some few years later in

southern Queensland , when it turned sheep washing into the most complicated as well as the most expe n

Th e sive sheep operation of the year . shearing was

l n done on rough s abs and u der a barked roof, the f l a ﬂa ir wool table a c umsy , and the wool press a long d lever with a box attache , the whole business being

u ff a ro gh and inexpensive job , very di erent to some of those big sheds that I knew in after years , the

su m building of which cost a goodly , and , indeed , represented the capital outlay of a small station— to

th e o n d a r a n n wit , J y woolshed on the Darli g Downs ,

5 0

C H APT E R I V .

“ A TRIP To THE NEVER NEVER .

AF TE R some months at S heep station work an o ppo r t u n ity presented itself by which I was able to start “ for the then so —call ed Never Never country on

A M cN a b the Dawson , to assist a man named rchie to get a tract of new count ry he had taken up for h Mr . Master and my brot er reported upon by the

s nearest Crown Lands Commis ioner , which was

required by the Land Ac t . M cN ab was a good old m Scotch an , but by no means a brilliant explorer ;

h a d he , however , been out there before , and had

a secured a good run for himself, afterwards c lled

Kianga , which became the property of his excellent

widow in after years . Th e Commissioner we had to meet was the late

. e W . H Wiseman , who was located for the tim being

at Rannes , one of the very outside stations of what l was then cal ed Northern Queensland , but which is R now in the Central District . So for annes we had

to make , and it was then a journey that involved no little dan ger owing to the ﬁerce character of the D awson blacks , who had committed already some

isolated murders of shepherds and stockmen . We

5 2 A TR I P TO THE “ E VE E VE N R N R .

made the best preparations we could , getting each a couple of the hardiest tried horses on Ma n go o l a that we knew would last the journey out . We carried

M cN a b - arms , a double barrelled fowling piece , self a T yrolese riﬂe , with which I could make excellent practice . We took a black boy , from whom we w l expected great things , but hen we got to Da by , the furthest township in the direction we were bound for , hearing from his tribe , I presume , about the Dawson blacks , he bolted and left us in the lurch . To get to Dalby we had to travel over a great part of wh a t wa s then the cream of the Darling

n Downs , quite unfenced and o ly partly stocked . It consisted chieﬂy of rolling plains , growing barley, t kangaroo and oat grasses , hat grew in some cases as high as a mounted horseman , but which the heavy stocking of after days has long since extinguished . No better country for sheep and cattle existed in those days , now much of it is under the plough . D alby, a veritable city of the plains , only boasted in those days of a store and a couple of public - houses ; now it is a big township , and is the capital of the

Western Downs . Leaving it , we traversed the largest plains I had up to that time ever seen . \Ve ’ passed and camped at Bell s celebrated statio n of ’ U” l l l k we Jimbour , then travelling Charlie s Cree entered the timbered country of the Burnett District

B u r a n d o wa n w e in to , hich boast d those days of having m o re sheep upo n it than any stati o n on the

:) o ) E jO U R N AL OF A Q UE NSLAN D SQ UA TTE R .

. a n d Darling Downs It was carrying sheep , as sheep washing and shearing were in ful l swing the place rather astonished us with its bustle and work , though in after years I was destined to see

W a sh o o l s v many a bigger S hed . p ha e been given up since those days , and the rum cask forms no longer a part of the shearing supplies , for the sheep washers , who were a good deal in the water , used

x to e pect their three glasses of grog a day . Now everybody shears in the grease , the extra carriage of the dirt having been met by the advantages of railway carriage .

B u r a n d o wa n We camped a couple of days at , and l At watched the shearers making big ta lies . Bon dooma the next station we passed , there was a notice up warning travellers with sheep of T scab being on the run . his was the ﬁrst and last I ever heard or saw of that pest in Queensland , a pest that had nearly ruined squatting in many parts of

New South Wales and Victoria , an insidious and almost imperceptible insect that causes the valuable

’ o ﬂ ff wool to fall , and is the source of terrible su ering

e to the poor sheep , which can be se n rubbing

against every post or tree they can get near . A f ew stages of some twenty miles a day brought t us to Rawbelle , then the fur hest out station on

the Burnett ; the country , so thickly timbered ’ throughout our j ourney from Charlie s Creek , Al l getting more open and somewhat richer . this

sheep country , it is sad to reﬂect , has long since

5 4 A T I TO TH E “ E E E R P N V R N VE R .

fi t ceased to be for that purpose , and the district has fi since been turned into cattle stations . In the fties it bred good sheep and grew fine wool , but when the superior grasses were eaten out and grass seeds pre vailed , an end was put to sheep farming on all the

e x ce eastern waters of Queensland , with the rare p tions of the Springsure country and Peak Downs ,

- that still retain their good wool growing propertie s . From Rawbelle to Rannes we had something like a hu ndred miles of unstocked country to travel through , using all precautions to avoid surprise by the blacks , such as camping for the night without ’ ﬁres , eating our supper before we made the night s e camp , t thering our horses so as to have them handy , and watching back to back against some big a tree . Here it was that we felt the w nt of a black

boy .

When we reached Rannes , a sheep and cattle

g station belongin to the Messrs . Leith Hay , who

had been assisted in their large u n dertaking by Mr . T homas Holt , of Sydney (who thereby earned the name of the “ Haymaker shearing operations

a n d were in full swing, there seemed to be a large

- To number of highly paid hands about . protect this

outside station there was a sub - inspector of Native

Police , one white sergeant , and half a dozen black

wh o c o ff troopers , camped at some little distan e the

w h l o t o f h homestead , hich consisted c iefly of a roug

o f bark buildings , whilst on the o pposite side the

h e head statio n the native blacks we r e encam ped t o t O U R N AL A E E N AN A TTE j OF QU SL D SQ U R .

n number of several hundred , their ﬁres extendi g T over a mile . hese blacks , we were told , were by no means civilized yet , and given to robbing the T huts of the outlying shepherds . hey were daily i employed in str pping bark for the manager , who paid them by the occasional gift of a bullock .

Having introduced ourselves to Mr . Charles Leith

Hay , the managing partner , who shared with us his rough accommodation , he in turn introduced us to

Mr . a o Wiseman , who , although q uite unable to

u s r company and eport on the country , gave us the necessary permit and signed the documents securing

the land we wanted . It was impossible to be in Mr . ’ Wiseman s society without feeling its charm , and his powers of description were as great as his varied experience . He gave us a glowing account of the A country the Messrs . rcher had just taken up about

80 - miles north east of Rannes , describing it as

ﬁ r st - class sheep country , something like the Darling w Do ns but in after years , when I passed Gracemere , as the Archers called their hospitable station near

t i r e Rockhamp on , and recalled this descript on , I ﬂe ct e d how little it had been borne out by practical — it experience turned out good cattle country , and

nothing more . Listening , however , to a man of Mr . ’ Wiseman s experience , one could not help feeling that there was a boundless future in t h e fu rther pastoral development of Queensland to the north and w h west , and hen , years after , of w ich more anon , I was offered an opening to stock and develop

5 6 A TR I P TO THE “ N E E E E V R N V R .

the richer country of Peak Downs , I often thought ’ of Wiseman s sanguine anticipations . Singularly h enoug , Wiseman , some years later , was appointed

Crown Lands Commissioner at Rockhampton , the ’ A n town built on Messrs . rcher s statio , and I then spent many an evening in his house listening to his reminiscences of Italy , and of the days when he had spent his fortune in the best of European

o l d society , for Wiseman , notwithstanding the rough ’ o f R o ck h a m t o n s surroundings p early days , ever remained a gentleman of the most cultivated tastes .

We rested our nags for a few days at Rannes ,

e t but were anxious to g back , as we liked neither the camp nor its surroundings . We returned by a the same tr ck , and were not altogether astonished on nearing Rawbelle at being overtaken by a messenger from Rannes , who gave us the bad news that the native police had been attacked at night a t l e Rannes , and ﬁve of the six troopers kil d , the sixth being desperately wounded . It was supposed that the native troopers had been decoyed to their fate by some of the black gins . Marshall , if I recollect right , was the inspector , and no doubt had been saved by his camping at the head sta tion . This slaughte r created a great stir in the newly

n formed district , and other police , the sent for , no doubt made the wild blacks pay for it . But the

wa s cause a want of management , as the blacks had

o w been unwisely employed , and thereby got to kn

o f o c e the daily habits both station hands and p li , E AL F A E E A jO U N O Q U NSL ND S Q U A TTE R .

which they had unfortunately turned to advantage . I shall have occasion later on to allude to some other massacres by blacks which , like this one , denoted the folly of not keeping the wild blacks at arm ’s

n f o r le gth some years , at any rate , after the ﬁrst settlement of the country .

Ma n o o l a We returned to g in a leisurely manner , glad to have accomplished the obj ect of our journey , Th and not sorry to rest a bit at the end of it . e wide stretch of the Darling Downs and the scope of the pastoral country beyond it had mightily im I “ pressed me , and came back from the Never

- Never a good deal wiser and more self reliant .

C H APT E R V .

D A R L I N G D O W N S .

AF TE R my return from our Dawson trip circum stances rendered it advisable that I should obtain

wider experience , and on paying a visit after stray

horses to Yandilla , the ﬁne station of the Messrs .

Gore on the western side of the Darling Downs , I

o ﬁ e r gladly accepted an made me by Mr . Ralph

s Gore , the resident partner , to help among t the

cattle , joining two very excellent young fellows already there in the bachelor establishment of Th e

Cottage , at Yandilla , where I spent a couple of useful years of “ Colonial Experience ” happily — 1 7 enough the years 1 8 5 6 and 8 5 . Yandilla was even in those days one of the most improved and comfortable stations on the famous T D . arling Downs hough ﬂat , Yandilla could boast

Th e of country as rich as any on the Downs . Con damine ran at the head of the run into an immense T lagoon at ummaville , and issuing from this big

n sheet of water , one of the largest on the Dow s , the w river formed two branches , hich united again at

Th e the lower end of the run . country between

these two branches , sometimes seven or eight miles

61 O U R N A L A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQU R .

w t in idth , was ﬁrst class , owing to its dep h of

alluvial soil ; much of this land is , I understand , now

Th e laid down under lucerne . head station of the

Messrs . Gore was a very comfortable one , denoting the easy circumstances of a family possession that f r had never suf ered f om want of capital outlay . It T stood , and stands still , on the banks of Grass ree

Creek , a short way from its junction with the

western branch of the Condamine , which in ﬂood

time became somewhat inconvenient , as the creek T would back up and ﬂood the garden . here were comfortable huts both for single and married couples

and a capital brick house for the resident partner ,

with an excellent garden that grew , amongst other

. A fruit , every variety of grapes schoolhouse and

chapel had not been forgotten , and altogether there

was an air of comfort and plenty about the place . No doubt the system of shepherding the sheep when I came to Yandilla meant a large number of

a n d hands , and these required rations attendant

expenditure ; but the price of wool was good , and

2 . l s . 2s d the Yandil a clip used to fetch from to 6 . a ’ pound , roughly washed on the sheep s back . Besides which the Darling Downs squatters were beginning to reap the sterling fruits of the Victorian gold out

o l d ﬁ el d s put , those g having exhausted the local meat supply so that towards the end of 1 8 5 6 Victorians and R ive r in a men who had fattening country began to send buyers to the Darling Downs to secure sheep , prices rising high in consequence . There was also

62 A I I V D RL NG DO N S . a demand for br e eding ewes to stock the new country to the north , and these also fetched high prices , so that it was no wonder Darling Downs men had a good time , and began purchasing their valuable freeholds and to do things liberally . From this

in period , fact till the ﬁnancial crisis ten years later , the squatting outlook was of the palmiest , enabling great improvements to be made in the keeping and

wa sh o o l s breeding of Merino sheep . Elaborate p and woolsheds were gradually erected , and the working man , whether overseer , bushman , shepherd or carrier , began to lay by the foundation of a competence . t For cat le the demand was more limited . Still

l 4s . 0 5 0s . . ta low was to per cwt , or about double the present price , and a good return could be obtained by boiling down the cattle that on the then lightly stocked fattening plains of the Darling Downs used to put on a degree of condition impossible in the present day . It was a good time altogether , and a good few made solid fortunes by selling out at the w right time , hilst others travelled north and west to fresh pastures , which it will be my pleasure to describe later on . M y work at Yandilla , like all station work in A ustralia , was entirely in the saddle , and chiefly w consisted in mustering cattle , that ere by no means as quiet as they should have been , on the outskirts

e e t h e of the run , and for this my exp rienc on Severn

Th e d ff e e w e t h e came in very useful . i er nc bet e n

( 33 E A jO U R N AL OF A Q U E NSL ND SQ UA TTE R . two stations being that whilst there were mountains

M a n o o l a a t at g , Yandilla there was scrub , and to get wild cattle out of the scrub many more hands were required , and a good deal of art had to be brought into play to decoy the cattle out of the scrub and get them into the yard .

It will interest the reader , especially if he is a

mo d u s o er a n d i youngster , to describe shortly the p adopted . We used to start on a clear , moonlight night with two or three hundred mixed cattle that were fairly q uiet , and drive them to some good f eeding ground near the edge of the scrub , where the tracks out of the scrub showed that the scrubbers (as scrub cattle were called) went that way to Th feed or water . e lowing of the quiet mob would before long be responded to by that of the scrub

a u c ttle , which generally had some nbranded bulls amongst them that were sure to lead the scrub cattle

down to the quiet ones outside . When they had got i d pretty well m xe , the eight or ten hands required for this j ob would surround the whole lot a t a safe fﬁ distance , and , if a su cient haul had been made , drive them rapid ly away from the scrub on to th e

open country , where the rushes of the wild cattle f could be better met . It was o ten a hard job to ring them up and steady them so as to get them

under weigh for the stockyard , which often meant a

drive of eight or ten miles . Sometimes , if the “ m dart had been isj udged , we would lose the ’ lot , and our night s work would be thrown away ;

64 A I D D RL NG O I VN S .

d but that seldom happene . When we got near the vard there was sure to be a scamper a n d some hard

Off galloping , the wild bulls generally making ; but we used to get rid of them by telling o ff one of the

t h e hands to shoot biggest of them , which they did with a hand y carbine .

Of course , galloping by moonlight is deceptive i w and dangerous work , espec ally here the timber is t hick , but it was generally left to the horse as much

s w as pos ible , though some otherwise good horses ere

t o not to be trusted for night work . We used get

n to the yard in the early morni g light , and then quickly satisfy ourselves whether we h a d made a T good haul or not . here would generally be some extraordinary big bullocks , cattle that had occa sio n a l l w y been a ay for years , as the Yandilla cattle h had at that period been somewhat neglected . T e following day there was the branding up , always a tough job , especially with old calves of twelve or eighteen months , and I have seen some queer chases a n d w upsets , hen an eighteen months bull would take w it i n to its head to clear the yard . But we ere

in a n d h a s active those days , it been my lot to have t h e w horns of a cow , ithin an inch of my trousers

n e a r l n for v the length of the mai yard , racing to w t h e escape her , to end ith a heavy tumble on ’ t o o f o other side of the yard , amids the sh uts ne s mates .

c c r Some serious a idents , of course , occu when

e t o r a r e n r . cattle g hot , aturally vicious and cha ge

65 V L TT f O U R r A OF A Q UE E NSLAND SQUA E R .

Ma ny a horse has been gored on the run through not being quick enough to get out of the way , and some men in the yard have occasionally been served in the

Th e same way . worst accident I ever knew of at

Yandilla , was that of a ﬁne young bullock driver l tackling a young bu lock to break in , in the pound of the stockyard . By some mischance , in reaching over the yoke he was trying to put him in , the long

e horn of the beast pi rced the eye of the poor man ,

- w right through the skull , the youn g fello being swung about by his head on the horn of the bullock . Th T Old ompson at ummaville , and Jemmy Pont at

the head station , were the Yandilla stockmen of those

days , both steady men with nothing ﬂash about them ,

r T typical hands at thei work , hompson , the elder

man , being a nailer in the yard , and Jemmy Pont with his light weight a sight for sore eves ’ at

- drafting cattle on the camp , that cutting out busi

u ness being a good deal like polo , and req iring a w horse quick on his legs , and up to every t ist and T turn of t h e beast that is being singled out . his kind of work on an old camp horse will oft en throw ’ a new chum , as he isn t sometimes quick enough when his horse props to follow the sudden turn of

a beast , and great is the laughter accordingly when

o ff he gets pitched . We had many a good camp after the scattered T herd up Grass ree Creek , or occasionally on the lower run on Russell and Taylor ’s Cecil Plains

boundary , when their men j oined ours to muster

O UR N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

For Cecil Plains , then thought rather open for sheep ,

turned out excellent sheep country , and a good

centre for the purchase of travelling sheep , and became one of the most proﬁtably worked properties

wa in that speculative y, on the Darling Downs . This and the steady acq uirement of land in and

T a T round Drayton and oowoomb , made James aylor a big man , his shrewd businesslike capacity being s ought for in many directions . He represented

n Darling Dow s in Parliament for some years , during which he for a bit ﬁlled the position of Minister for Lands and was afterwards transferred to the Legisla tive Council , a seat in which I think he occupied till his death . Nearly forty years after the old times I A speak of, on one of my ustralian visits , I called to see him slowly passing away , surrounded by a h devoted wife and family , after a long , onourable h and ighly successful career . He was often called

” the King of Toowoomba . If our days at Yandilla were full of work our

n eveni gs were musical and pleasant , there being often a guest at the family table to give us news of the stations around , and tell us how our neigh

n o n bours were getti g , in these social and hearty days of Darlin g Downs ; days I have always looked back t o with the greatest pleasure .

68 E C H APT R V I .

DROVIN G EXPERIE NCES WITH C ATTLE AN D H E S E P .

N o w I made a contract with Mr . Gore to drive ten ’ drafts of fat cattle from Yandilla to R . J . Smith s

- boiling down establishment near Ipswich , a matter

of something over a hundred and twenty miles . I had a couple of good Yandilla black boys to assist l 1 5 0 me , and my mob genera ly consisted of about

head of fats . I had power to sell any of them to b butchers on the road , which was etter than boiling

a in a down , process wasteful even those rough d ys , a n d all the more so since the method of making

extract of beef, which has greatly increased the proﬁt

of boiling down for the fat alone , had not then been

discovered .

wa s l u ck v my r I in d oving and did well , getting M to know eve r y tree fr om Yandilla to Ipswich . y

ﬁ r a m T m Al f st st ge fro u maville would be Felton , red

’ S a u d e ma n s \Vh it c h u rch d id place , in whose absence

the honours o f th a t excellent p r o perty . Next camp

Ct o n va l e e n a s n o w w I made was , th o ned by

A r l l o d so n wh o S ir A r r l l o d s o n rthu g , still , as thu g ,

(if) O R N AL A E E j U OF Q U NSLAND SQUA TTE R .

d lea s the rank of old Queenslanders . John Watts was his managing partner of those days , a very

- k l r e hard wor ing man and fu l of good nature . I member my Yandilla cattle knocking down his yard , one wet night , and making away over the Felton back ridges and his insisting in helping me to track them before breakfast the following morning . It

n his Wa was doi g me a good turn , but that was y, and most of the Downs men were of that sort . From

E t o n v a l e n u t h e I ge erally sed to get to next stage , d own the range past Drayton and the Swamp t o

Helidon , where I got a yard and a hearty welcome T from William urner , who had ceased to be the “ T ” ﬁghting urner of old days , though he would still be glad to ﬁght his battles a gain over a glass of grog surrounded by his beautiful and musical children . From Helidon I passed or ’ camped at Grantham , Gatton , Bigges Camp , and

s Laidley , as the stages ﬁtted . I generally tayed at

Ipswich , resting my horses until the cattle were boiled down and the tally in produce of tallow was

23 0 t o declared . A good beast would yield from 2 80 . lbs of tallow , though I have seen a good lot go 3 00 . over lbs of fat , and occasional beasts go as high 40 m 0 . as lbs Boiling down , pure and si ple , has

fortunately died out , though as an adj unct to the

a r e t u r n extract of meat , which yields as valuable l

t h e as that of tallow , it still continues in factories

now widely distributed over Queensland . Eighteen hundred and ﬁ f ty- seven was a very

D R O I E X E I E CE V NG P R N S.

a ﬁe ct e d wet year , and that Yandilla , which

was naturally a wet run , a good deal of the country between the two branches of the Conda mine being often under water This occasioned i wet legs in r ding , and sowed the seeds of

Th e rheumatism in after life . black boys and I were nearly caught in the falling of a hut on a

t h e wet night at Gatton , and had a job in travelling cattle on the rotten ground between Gatton and ’

C . Bigges amp , otherwise we fared well enough T ’ here is something fascinating in a drover s life , however anxio u s you may be or little rest you . m 11 m a y get . It gives V0 complete exemption fro mental eff ort and I mbues you with a knowledge of the habits of the stock you are driving, such as cannot be obtained in any other a . You w get to kno that such a beast , the rogue or rowdy one of the mob , will at a bend of the road make for the creek on the roadside o r “ Th e gammon to shy at some passing teams .

v life in the open gi es you a splendid appetite ,

o ff and as you are generally by dawn , sometimes m by starlight , I leave y young readers to guess with what pleasure you reach the fla t on which

w o u r w you ill stead y y cattle to feed , hilst you eat you r own breakfast whi c h you had sent your

bo o n e t Th e e t d y black y to g read y . g ting rea

n a n t h e a meaning undoi g the p ck , hobbli g p ck “ o n f r e o t h e f o r h rse , lighti g a i , and b iling billy

t h e r a C H I LI o e tea , food being gene lly b il d salt O A OF A E E A j URN L Q U NSL ND S Q UA TTE R .

f bee and bread or damper , as the case may be , unless indeed you were out of both and had to make Johnny cakes of ﬂour and water , with a sprinkle of salt and soda . Johnny cakes are b t often es toasted a second time . On my return from delivering my last mob of f cattle at Ipswich , Mr . Gore of ered me the appoint m ent of cattle manager at Yandilla , but considera tions arose that led me after a year ’s experience of droving cattle to the pots to try my hand at overlanding sheep to Victoria . It was only the year before that overlanding wethers from P Queensland to Port hilip had commenced , and that Melbourne buyers had found their way to Th t h e Darling Downs . e venture had evidently proved remunerative , and all the young sheep were being bought up at golden pric e s for delivery T ﬁ l l i a year after . his gave a p to Queensland h b squatting , so good umour and riskness prevailed

on the Downs , for all sorts of horses and carts

n were wanted for droving outﬁts , and anythi g

3 s like a decent man got 0 . a week as drover for

a good long j ob of six months . I came across Dr . Rowe , of the Campaspe in

Victoria , a clever , amusing and successful man , who was then buying on the Darling Downs some twenty thousand three and four year old wethers at from 1 w 0s . 145 to , which he hoped to resell hen he had fattened them on his stations at a pound to twenty ’ ﬁ ve shillings in t h e Bendigo market . Dr . Rowe s

UR N AL A U E E A TTE jO OF Q NSL ND SQ UA R.

thing ready for the arrival of the shepherds , who

- generally appeared on the scene about mid day , as the al lotted distance of six miles a day can by starting the sheep at s u nrise be easily accomplished by noon . When on ce in View of the site of the w camp the shepherd ould go as far as he could , so as to give his ﬂock a good feed before night fall . On occasions , of course , he might have ten miles to

t o drive in the day , and in that case he would have Tw keep his sheep going to do the distance . o men

in s v had to watch turns for the night , thu e ery man in the camp had half a night ’s watch every T third n ight . hese watchmen had to make up the ﬁres round the sheep when they got low (such being made to scare the native dogs) and to continue

o f walking round the camped sheep , most which , if f the eed had been fair , would lie down and not stir . If they had been badly o ff during the day and there was a n y food near the camp they would draw out and give the man on the watch a good deal o f trouble . When the morning star appeared (reminder to many a shepherd of his task and care) the wat cher would ﬁrst rouse the cook and then wake the men to roll up their swags a n d get ready for ’ their day s work . Fresh mutton was generally used , though we used to get beef for a change whenever we

h e ﬁ z z in could . T sound of chops g in the pan (shep herds like fat things) gave an interest in the coming

a s meal , which was generally quickly got through ,

I E X P E R I E I VCE DRO V NG S . the sheep soon get uneasy on the camp after dav

Th e light . overseer in charge would t hen cut o ff the sheep to the shepherds in ﬁve ﬂocks of two thousand each ; the e ye g o t accustomed to masses of sheep , and we got to divide them with remarkable accuracy . Every third day we counted the sheep “ through brakes made for that purpose , often on each side of two saplings growing about three feet

n apart , through which the sheep would run out i Th twos and threes . e art of sheep counting is the m result of long habit and quickness of eye , so e sheep overseers being able to count sheep through

an Opening nearly a hurdle wide . After starting my lot of sheep I used to eat my

own chop in peace , and then mounting my horse

and looking at each ﬂock as I passed it , would f ollow the road to be pursued till I had reached what I thought was a good camping place f o r the

t h e night , when I generally selected spot and lit a

ﬁ r e it t h e to indicate , desiderata of a good cam p

being good elevation , water , wood , some saplings for

a the tents , and last , but not least , an absence of nts , especially those of the formidable kind called “ soldiers . We started from Dalby with a good outﬁ t a n d fai r

lot of men . Our route lay by Canal Creek , the

Th e McI n t yr e brook and through the Beebo scrub .

t s o wa er on this main road south was getting h rt , the

a n d track dusty and grassless , the season generally

At a o e o r a o n e . bade fai to be dry Yall r i , aft r d ing

7 9 O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R.

a couple of days without water , our twenty thousand wethers became unmana geable a n d go t away from the shepherds as they neared the creek and smelt the water . Fortunately we headed them down the creek and succeeded in turning them on horseback , but it was not till late that night and by the light of t h e moon that we succeeded in rounding them u p l a n d camping them in one lot . We were serious y afraid of losses , but on counting them the next T morning we found them all right . hat day several of our sheep dogs perished of thirst , and here I got a nasty k ick from a horse that I was driving in hobbles up to camp , the calkin of the horseshoe e ntering my shin . For some days the pain was so excruciating that I had to ride in the cart , but got e ase eventually by lancing it and using that then w ’ r general remedy , Hollo ay s Ointment , with powde ed

o ff lump sugar to eat the proud ﬂesh . A fter we got out of the thick country, we crossed “ t h e M cI n t r e y and Big rivers , and travelled through the far- famed Liverpool Plains and the

- G o l a th er a l G u n d a ma in e sea like expanse of and , ﬁne c ountry that I was destined to be concerned with later on . We then came to the Namoi River , and a s the country was pretty thickly stocked , we were a good deal hunted by th e owners of sheep through w hose runs we passed , who made us keep to our strict distance of not less than six miles a day . S teering south after crossing the river , we travelled through a long stretch of thick salt bush country

8 0 VI I VG E X E I E CE DRO P R N S.

60 to the Macquarie River , which we crossed miles below Dalbo .

h a d Near here we met with our ﬁrst accident .

One of our drovers , Richardson by name , who was

b - the jocular man of my lot , got astray on a y track with his ﬂock , and ride where I would , I could not reach him before dark . He , however , turned up at d our camp on the roa , past the middle of the night ,

n without his sheep , and this in a cou try much infested with wild dogs meant a regular smash . His story was that on finding himself quite astray on a creek he had followed instead of the road , he had camped his sheep at nightfall , and made up roaring fires to keep away the dingoes and assist in his being found , for the country was very thick . He kept his watch and walked round his sheep when , unfortunately, he was attracted by the rise of the late moon , which looked to him like a fire . He had followed this ign is f a ta n s over a ridge and then got bushed , being unable to retrace his steps to his flock , which was thus left to the mercy of the wild dogs and nearly cut to pieces . Fortunately for his own self he had struck the road

n l o t the mai had travelled , and found himself at our camp in the early morning . We did all we

could to muster the lost sheep , but they had been

a we scattered everywhere and lay de d in heaps , so only managed to recover about half the number the

h a d w w man had ith him , hich made the loss come T u p to quite a thousand . his threw a gloom ove

8 ] ' jO U R N AL OF A QUE E NSL AND SQ UA TTE R .

our party , as we had up to this time got on very well for the ﬁrst , which as far as the country fﬁ went was the most di cult , half of our long jour

ch a ﬂe d ney . Richardson was so in the camp for having taken the rising moon for a camp ﬁre that

he left in despair as soon as I could replace him . From the Macquarie we crossed over to the head d of the Lachlan , which river we followe down a

Th e long way to Booligal . most of the Lachlan

country was extremely dry , and the expiring water

holes were often ﬁlled with dead beasts , which made

d iﬂi cu l t . it to get decent water , even by boiling it We had a tight pinch of 40 miles without water fﬁ before we got to the Lachlan , a distance di cult

to accomplish by sheep without water . We ﬁlled our water casks for our own and the draught horses ’

drinking , and sent the riding horses ahead , the

a s overseers as well the men having to tramp it , which made us powerless to go after any ﬂock that T got astray . here was little feeding on the part of

the ﬂocks , however , it being all hard driving in T thick dust a n d great heat . his squeeze was the

- m worst one of our journey , and any ill ti ed accident

would have been fatal . I shall not forget when we

ﬁ B u r r a wa n bin e a h approached our rst water , the g . Lagoon (the water of which was white and thick);

the sheep smelt the water , and at once got lively

and noses in the air started galloping to the lagoon . Th e Yallaroi scene was acted over again as far as t the mixing of the ﬂocks went , but having dayligh

8 2

A TT jO U R N A L OF A QUE E NSLAND SQ U E R. Water conservation by tanks and dams and a rtesian bores has since made an alteration no d oubt in lessening the trouble as far as water is

concerned , but with the increase of water there has come an increase o f stock rendered necessary by the higher rentals claimed by the Governments A of most of the ustralian Colonies , who have often unjustly rented the squatter in proportion t o the

very capital he has laid out on his leasehold ,

instead of its being the other way about . It was singular that throughout all our journey of nearly seven months we had not had a drop

n B o o l i u l a n d of rai , though when we reached g there approached the plains of R ive r in a we found

the grass springing from recent rains , which had the cﬂe ct of making the sheep perfectly u n ma n a ge

a t able night , so that we had to mount men to keep them within bounds of their camp till t h e

time came for the daily morning start . At B o o l igu l we turned o ff the Lachlan to cross

R ive r in a the wide plains of , country which I never

then thought would have attained its present value .

wa s In those days it a dead level , treeless , unin

t e r e s tin - g country , with widely scattered tufts of grass growing amidst ubiquitous clumps of salt

bush , that corrective herb which sets the seal of healthy sheep country throughout most of Au s i Th t r a l a . e land , of a clayey reddish tinge , gave little hope then of being worth a couple of pounds

an acre , which it realizes now for sheep farming

84 I DI E C7 PUQ VY? iE ALPZE RHDE I VCDE SR

purposes , though in many places wheat and other T cereals have been successfully grown . ime may yet brin g about a system of irrigation by canalizing

the Lachlan , Murrumbidgee , and Murray Rivers , such as will irrigate the country and probably turn

At iv e r in a it into a garden . present R is content

to feed Melbourne with fat beef and mutton , to

grow splendid wool , and enrich a set of ﬁne fellows wh o are hospitable to a degree , whether you visit them at their comfortable station homesteads or in those suburban palaces they have built near Mel bourne with the proceeds of their well managed

estates .

When we neared Deniliquin , then a very busy squatting centre , we felt we were approaching the land of gold , for there was any amount of excite

e x e n ment about , and travelling was evidently an p sive game , for it cost a pound to put up a horse

n m for a ight at the hotels , and the sa e money was asked for a bottle of grog . After punting t h e sheep across the Murrumbidgee at Deniliquin a n d - we the ana branch of the Edwards , at Hay , crossed the famed Murray at Moama or Maiden ’s

Punt . on a corduroy bridge , and felt lighter hearts at nearing the end of our journey , and being at last in Victoria . ’ l w ’ A week s more droving brought us to Dr . o e s

t e se d o wn a a n d station , Plains , on the Camp spe , I shall not easily forget the delight and comfort

we o with which delivered up our trust , and nce

8 5 jO U R N AL OF A Q U E E NSLA ND SQ UA TTE R .

more slept in a comfortable bed , free from nightly

w f o r alarms and disturbing atches . But that loss of Richardson ’s mob we would have made an

d r vn e ss exceptionally good trip , considering the

w wa s of the season . Dr . Ro e , however , quite satisﬁed , and gave Butler and myself a handsome bonus beyond our salary . A ’ ’ fter a few days rest at Dr . Rowe s I started by coach to Bendigo which a lapse of four years since my last Visit had greatly altered both as a

o l d ﬁ e l d town and as a g , for brick ediﬁces of con sid e r a bl e pretensions were taking the place of the

st u ﬂ old tents and shanties , and the alluvial wash of endless earth heaps was being puddled by machinery for t h e third or fourth time ; besides which gold had been found in quartz reefs , which ﬁ gave direct perm a nence to the eld . After a few d ays spent at Bendigo amongst old friends I drove ’ down to Melbourne in an enormous Cobb s coach , horsed by a team of a dozen spanking horses that

travelled swiftly over a well macadamized road , very different to my last experience over the same

country .

Melbourne I found increasing rapidly , good build

ings were springing up on every side , not forgetting the increasing suburbs which play such a c o n spicu

ous part in the settlement of this great city . I was glad to look up my friend s and get a few days

of perfect rest and easy enjoyment . I had a good deal to talk about af ter the conversational restraint

8 6

C H APT E R V I I .

A AN D A LIVERPOOL PL INS LL NGOLLEN ,

NEW SOUTH WALES .

VE R L AN DI N G b O promotes restlessness and am ition , so I m was soon anxious to get fresh work and applied , fro

r Melbourne , to Mr . Edward Lloyd , whose brothe

John had just married my cousin , to see if he could put anything in my way . Mr . Edward Lloyd was managing partner of Lloyd Brothers , great squatters

on the Namoi in New South Wales , and resided as a member of the Sydney Upper House at Denham

Court near Sydney . I received an agreeable letter from him , asking me to come and stay with him and talk matters over ; this I was very glad to do , d when , a few ays later and after a better passage

Go ver n o r Gen er a l than my ﬁrst in the , for a second time I entered the Sydney Heads .

Mr . Lloyd and his wife (a daughter of Major Johnstone of Annandale) received me with the greatest cordiality ; their home , Denham Court , was a delightful country house , nearly twenty miles l out of Sydney , and handy to the rai way, by which the metropolis was reached in a little over an hour .

8 8 N A E LI VE RPOOL PLAI NS A D LL NGOLL N. He soon told me that his ﬁrm were about to begin

r n B u r b u r a t e shea i g at g , and that he proposed taking me up with him to look after the wash

t - pool , where they were to spou wash the sheep

under a new system , thus promising me another

a t insight into sheep farming on a large scale , which

d . I much rejoice In the meantime , I spent a few w eeks most agreeably, amid social surroundings that I had been a stranger to S ince I left the Darling

Downs . d When Mr . Lloy , who was a busy man and went to Sydney nearly every day , was ready , we made a

via start for the Hunter River , by steamer, New

B u r b u r a t e castle , intending to drive up to g with a Th horse and buggy which we took with us . e

Newcastle boat started at eleven p m. and landed you at this centre of the coal industry of New

s bv South Wale early daylight . Of course New castle was a small and uni n teresting place in those days ; still the coal is there in quantity and quality pre - eminently greater than at other places on the Australian coast ; and so lon g as that is the case , Newcastle must be a place of importance and off er to the obsolete old passenger boats of t h e so u thern hemisphere as colliers the haven of a

u m usef l , if so ewhat dirty , old age .

F r s v om Newca tle we tra elled through Maitland ,

co u n t r v w n V ial t o a bustling to n , the ce , Singleton ,

Mu s we l l t s Brook , raver ing a country very much like d a it s a ear old Engl nd in fresh p sture , gardens and

8 9 jO URNA L OF A Q UEENSLAND S Q U A TI E R .

cultivation , with this addition , that on the Hunter

o u t peaches , apricots and grapes grow of doors in

Th e rich variety . Hunter is certainly a country of rich gardens , vineyards and fattening farms , and as such often bears the name of the Garden of

New South Wales . Certain choice growths of w Ca wa r r a , ine , both red and white , such as

a l u d a h s K , Kinros , and one or two vintages are grown on the H u nter that closely approach the

n choicest growths of the Rhine , not excepti g even such brands as Steinberg Cabinet and Rud esheimer w Berg . Given fair age the hite wines of the

Hunter are superb .

We ma de easy stages through this favoured land , ascending from Murrurundi (then called the Page)the

Main or Great Liverpool Range , dividing the eastern waters of the Hunter from the western watersheds

Th e of the Namoi , Barwon and Darling . ascent was

arduous in those days , though nothing so steep as

’ Cunningham s Gap in Moreton Bay, or the Blue d Mountains on the Bathurst line . We were gla ,

however , to stand on the plateau of the famous

Liverpool Plains , about to open its wide expanse of

fattening pastures to us , for we had still seventy or

B u r bu r a t e eighty miles to travel to g , and we hoped

for ﬁne weather to do so , so that our wheels ’ shouldn t clog ; buggy travelling becoming exceed

in l g y awkward after ra in in black soil .

Liverpool Plains , taking it all in all , is I think the ﬁ nest pastoral country I know of in the big island

jO U R rVAL OF A Q UE E NSLAND SQ UA TTE R .

th e r a l , and a few others , that have all long since

become freeholds , and in carrying nearly a sheep to the acre for their owners have managed to

enrich them , and that sometimes for more than one

generation . For what wise man will care to part with a really good station

We yarned as we walked up the range , myself happy to gather information regarding a district w hich Mr . Lloyd thoroughly knew , and I was almost sorry to jump again into the trap and trot

o ff T w to the Willow ree , a good roadside inn , here the road to Tamworth and New England turned ff o . Here we were fortunate enough to get a

feed of strawberries for our tea . After a rest we

s tackled the wide monotony of Breeza Plain ,

stretching as far as the eye could see , and covered w ith luxuriant grasses . Live stock were all fat , and my heart rose at what seemed to off er a

- ’ t . A W squatter s paradise Breeza , here we had to

n we camp for the ight , put up at a dirty little inn rejoicing in the name of the “ Pig and Tinder Box Th e beds had previous occupants calculated to murder sleep , so we were not sorry to get away early the next morning . Th e following day was to be our last on the stage

B u r bu r a t e ﬁ to g , and one of our rst sights on the

l a p in was a string of wild pigs making for water . Further on we passed on the plains a ﬁne team of

B u r bu r a t e mules bound to Maitland from g , and ’ m known as Lloyd s mule tea . Mr . Lloyd told me

92 N L L AN L L E LI VE RPOOL PL AI NS A D G O I V. they used to do double the work compared to an ordinary horse team . He seemed to know all the teamsters and horsemen as they passed by , and it was pleasant to have the characteristics of the dis t r ict and people explained to you by so good a j udge . We arrived at B u r bu r ga t e towards sundown ; it l was evidently the centre of a large estab ishment , the ’ ’ working part away from the owner s and ma nager s

e - k resid nce , everything ship shape , close to the ban of the Namoi , and possessing every reasonable comfort in a good house and the usual wide verandah which a A always accomp nies an ustralian house . Besides which there was a ﬁne garden , sloping to the river full of peaches , ﬁgs and grapes .

We were received by Mr . Charles Lloyd , the youngest of the three brothers , Mr . John Lloyd , the rI ‘h . e eldest , being in England station was in a l bust e of preparation for washing and shearing , and the day seemed hardly long enough to crowd into it h the business required to be got through . T e

Messrs . Lloyd were practical men and full of energy , a n d I felt at once it was a good thing for me to be in their service .

a Soon after we arrived , however, it became p parent that the large body o f sheep that had to be shorn at the station that year could not well be w wa sh o o l orked at the new p , as the grass was failing on the river and the wa s h po o l was too n e ar the

Th e woolshed . job , as it was proposed , would have

9 3 A TTE jO U R rVA L OF A Q UE E NSLAND SQU R . meant a good deal more sta rva tion than was a d visable for the sheep , a large number of which had

ﬁ - to travel over fty miles from other out stations , which I refer to later on in my description of Messrs .

’ Ll o yd s properties .

So washing was knocked on the head for the year , and they shore in the grease , and I was content to get an insight into the working of a big shed before

n starting for Llangollen , ear Cassilis , at the head of

R ive r . the Hunter , a small sheep station Mr Edward Lloyd offered me the management of when my h l T engagement at the wa s po o fell through . his

' Mr property . Edward Lloyd had lately bought ,

together with Melville Plains , otherwise Gullen

. A daddy , from Mr lfred Denison , a successful

t S ir squat er , and brother of William Denison , who had been for some years Governor of New

South Wales , and was a member of that illustrious family which furnished a Speaker to the House of Commons and Churchmen and scholars of dis

t in gu ish e d attainments . Llangollen was prettily

Mu n mu r r a h situated amongst the mountains of the ,

one of the heads of the Hunter River , and although

- it was a sour grassed , rough bit of country req uiring

plenty of rock salt for the stock , it grew healthy ﬁ sheep and good wool , and was a pro table little T place . here was a charming homestead that had

been made comfortable by Mr . Denison and his

manager , Mr . Lambe , so I stepped into snug

quarters , and though I had to be my own overseer ,

jO URNA L OF A Q UE E NSLAND S Q U A TTE R . w beyond middle age , fresh , vigorous , and ith the courtly manners of the old school retained through the trying ordeal of the early settlement of the

Th e district he had resided in for thirty years .

wa s estate of Cassilis like that of Llangollen , nearly Th . e v all freehold impro ements were excellent , and t included a s one house , capital stabling , and the ﬁrst

- two storeyed wool shed I had seen . During my resi dence at Llangollen I was made welcome to the

evening meal whenever I liked to trot down on Mr . ’ - Denison s old cream coloured cob , an animal who A knew every step of the road , Mr . lfred Denison ’ having been Mr . Busby s intimate friend as well as his nearest neighbour . B Y Cassilis was the stronghold of the celebrated .

stud , so that , with an early developed passion for

horses , I was often amongst them , and on good terms

T g with rotter , the stud room , whose assistants were e ver ready to fetch out my cob , when , after a

pleasant evening at Cassilis , I returned to my q uarters ready for my early duty ride of the following day . I had always cause to be thankful ’ f r o . Mr Busby s neighbourly hospitality . It kept me up to the mark , making me more tidy about my c m ostume , and I ceased to carry y pipe in my

Mr s . pocket when Busby was near , and gave my wide - brimmed cabbage tree a brush before I started for my call . m My employer paid me a visit at shearing ti e , and was pleased with my progress and attention ; in fact ,

9 6 E AI AN D L L AN G L L E LI V RPOOL PL NS O I V. he hinted that he had promotion to more responsible and highly paid work in store for me . He thought r I must be lonely , so he told me he had a ranged

t h e to take on station a new chum , George King ,

M r T n second son of . George King , of hacker , Da iell

i ’

Co . r e s e cte d r e sid e n t s . and , one of Sydney s most p

ﬁ r st - w George King was a rate fello , with a good disposition and honourable instincts . Being a native he was already a good rider . We got on capitally , and remained close friends f o r many a year after wards . Whilst a t Cassilis we enjoyed a good many hunts after wild bulls at the head of the Mun murrah , which varied the monotony of our sheep station life .

Th e Mu n mu r r a h was a ﬂowing brook , and I was able to spout - wash the sheep by natural spouts formed by damming up the creek instead of requiring an engine and pumping the water from a water hole with a centrifugal pump . As there was not much

wa sh o o l - dust between the p and the wool shed , the wool was clean and well got up , and I was compli m t e d e n . 28 upon its condition It fetched . a pound in Sydney , including locks and pieces , not a bad price even for those days of good prices all round .

Llangollen in after years became the property of Dr . T it raill , of Collaroy , and paid him and the partner wh o managed for him very handsomely indeed . My residence at Llangollen enabled me to form the T valuable acquaintance of Dr . raill , then managing

ﬁ n e a partner of Collaroy , a bl ck soil estate about

9 7 jO U R N A L OF A Q UE E NSLAND SQ U A TTE R .

T h a d eighteen miles from Llangol len . Dr . raill previously earned for himself at Te n t e r ﬁ e l d the

fi - reputation of a rst rate station manager , and I “ ” f a n d was eager to sit at his eet , so to speak , improve mv knowledge of sheep management . It is not too much to say that in Australia the successful manager of a large sheep station may aspire to ﬁll any place , from that of the clear sighted dispenser of justice from his own bench of magistrates to that of Premier of his Colony under responsible government . Traill had certainly very remarkable abilities

befi tting the sheep autocrat t hat he became . He

was , I am glad to say , most friendly to me , and

many was the trip I took to Collaroy , especially at

ﬁ n e - shearing time , to handle the large framed sheep Traill had succeeded in breeding at Collaroy from a continuous importation of Rambouillet or French

Merino rams , which undoubtedly give the maximum

of wool and meat wit h robustness of constitution .

Th e breed is still located at Collaroy, though excel T l lent old rai l has gone to his long rest , after a

remarkable career of useful prosperity . I am glad to say that after over forty years of existence the

ﬂock is still in great demand , my friends of the

Wie n h o l t Estates Company , amongst others , often f recruiting their locks from that source . l ’ . Tr a i l s Dr overseer for a time was Jesse Gregson ,

afterwards of Rainworth , Queensland , and now the well- known and capable manager of the Australian

N E ' LI VE RPOOL PLAI NS A D LLANGOL L N .

A A r M . gricultural Company in ustralia . Gregson had arrived in Australia as a gentleman new chum to stay with his connections , the Busbys of Cassilis , and after a brief experience , to his credit be it “ w said , he humped his s ag and made his way

f o r k . to Collaroy, applying wor as a station hand He soon got made under overseer and then head sheep overseer , learning thoroughly and from the best source that practical management of live stock which serves him in such good stead now . Few Australian careers have shown more deter mination of charac t er than that of Jesse Gregson .

[ 01 R C H APT E V I I I .

T H E W A N S . . N M O I , .

1 ff AT 8 5 9 . the end of , Mr Lloyd o ered me what he thought was a more useful and important outlet for my energies in the assistant managership of Messrs . ’ B u r b u r a t e Lloyds g and other Namoi properties , under the managing partner , Mr . Charles W . Lloyd . I was loth to leave such a perfect little station and

' m n m ve r ho e as Lla gollen , as also y y good friends and neighbours ; but there was the probability of a considerable position hereafter , and a rise in salary i w u at once , so I started ith no little rel ctance the

B u r b u r a t e same way back to g , via Coolah and

90 . Melville Plains , some miles Coolah was a l rough little p ace in those days , and I was told A an amusing story about the late Mr . lfred Deni son arriving there at night on his way to Melville

n Plains , and , on asking for accommodation , bei g

given a blanket to camp on the sofa , all the bed

. As rooms being occupied it was dark , he did not make out his camp very well ; but in the

morning , ﬁnding a soft object at the foot of his ’ sofa , he found he had lain all night on a sheep s

paunch dragged there by a kangaroo dog .

1 02

jO U R N AL OF A Q UE E NSLAND SQ UA TTE R .

Lloyd owned the ﬁne shorthorn herds carrie d on

m in e G a l a th e r a l h the G u n d a a and stations , w ich fattened cat tle that always topped the Sydney T market . hese stations were also much under stocked , or at any rate would have been considered

t h e v so in these days , but were then lightly stocked ,

o ff so as to turn as many fat cattle as possible , the breeding cattle being chieﬂy carried at Manila , a rougher piece of country under the range .

I have always considered Gurley and Edgeroi ,

G u n d a ma in e G a l a th e r a l and and , the best properties for growing and fattening sheep and cattle that I ever saw under one holding , such as they were T when the Lloyds had them . hey became partly the prey of selectors in after days , and are now held by several owners .

B u r bu r a t e g was the head station , and all these

- fﬁ v other out stations had e cient o erseers , who fur n ish e d to the head station monthly accounts o f the stock under their charge , together with the money orders drawn in payment of wages , etc . , on the head

ﬁ Th e of ce . system was complete and orderly , and books well kept by a bookkeeper . I was soon initiated in the work , and accompanied Mr . Charles

Lloyd round all the stations , being much struck at the extent of their undertaking and its organi

io z a t n .

Th e lambing arrangements were particularly suc ce ssf u l B u r b u r a t e , being chieﬂy carried on at g under Ol d the supervision of the best of overseers ,

1 04 TH E I N W AM S . N O ,

M wa . sl o w ackenzie , who was a model in his y ;

wa s and sure , he never known to put his horse

out of a walk, but he was out at daylight and between that and dark had gone the round of the

. lambing ﬂocks , and looked into that most important Th . e of all jobs , if you want to get into numbers a run being well w tered , it was especially adapted

for lambing , and certainly results were obtained

there that I have never seen equalled elsewhere .

We often got 90 to 100 per cent . of lambs over f the ewes put to the ram , a result very dif erent

Th e to that obtained in paddock lambings now .

B u r bu r a t e g lambing was by hand , and a great many blacks were employed . In the Lloyds ’ cattle management an equal amount At of care was shown . the head station they bred bulls from imported shorthorn stock and the Peel ’ h River Company s shorthorn cows . T e breeding k herd was kept apart from the fattening bulloc s , and when they came t o a certain age the weaners Th were taken out and herded . e h eifers were also regularly herded and kept apart for a time ; then , of course , cattle paid better in those days than

n o w they do , when a general carelessness , the result of poor markets , has , I am afraid , crept upon cattle farming generally , I hope not to remain , for there is nothing more unsatisfactory than a badly- managed l herd , or more pleasing to the eye than a wel managed one . Shearing soon came upon us with all its prepara

105 E E A A TTE jO U R zVAL OF A Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

a n d . tions and various responsibilities , Mr Lloyd gave me charge of the wool shed under his super vision : Fortunately the season was a good one , and we had kept as much grass round the place as we could , though we should have liked a good deal

B u r b u r a t e more . g shed was the biggest on the

a n d river , that meant that you could generally get d the pick of shearers , who far and wi e applied year b y year for a stand therein . We could put on forty shearers and had cover for a whole ’ day s shearing, some sheep or over ; then there was every convenience for penning up the ff sheep , and the whole a air worked well . Some of the hands could easily shear over a hundred a day , though that number is n o w exceeded through our ’ friend Fred Wolseley s machines in the present day , which possess the enormous advantage of doing away T m with cutting the sheep . his atter of cuts had been for many years a standing disgrace to our civilization , as a large proportion of sheep in the days I write of were turned out sometimes cut all w over , to be irritated for days by the s arms of ﬂies

Ta r that infest the country . was put on the cuts

a cert inly , but that was only a counter irritant .

Th e picking up of the ﬂeeces and their skirting ,

l n a n d rol ing and pressing was all interesti g work ,

- came under the special charge of the wool sorter , who had been there for years , and knew every shade and degree of the true value of the Merino staple that has done so much to make New South

1 06

O U R I VA L OF A E E A A TTE j Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

knew Merino wethers to fetch in New South Wales .

Th e reason was that the market was bare , and we had not reached the present days of over - produc tion . A fter the shearing settlement , which was in those days washed down with a glass of grog and a

t h e remark from the boss , if shearer was a good one , that there would be a stand for him next year , I was glad to get a short run to Sydney and rest

a ﬂe ct e d my legs , which is the part of the body most in looking over a shed . Lloyd gave me a letter of introduction to one of a family of merchant princes

a in Sydney , who acted as his station gent , and who has lived , alas , to see his throne a good deal shaken by ﬁnancial troubles . However , in those days every

n co u l eu r d e r o se thi g was , and I thoroughly enjoyed both the hospitality of that merchant prince and ’ that of my young friend George King s father .

As I had only a small cheque to spend , I was not long in retracing my steps , and once more getting into work . We had some very good fell ows working at Lloyds ’ in those days , most of whom have had successful careers . We were all fond of cricket , and amongst my pleasantest recollections was that of a challenge

th e T of township of amworth , some ﬁfty miles ’ B u r b u r a t e above g , to play our Lloyds eleven a friendly game of cricket on their own ground . Our

T o u r ride to amworth was delightful , as we broke journey at the hospitable station of the Bells of

1 08

A A T jO URNAL OF A Q UE E N SL N D S Q U T E R . recalls an event that had occurred in the neigh

b o u r h o o d - n to a well know Queensland pioneer ,

Francis E . Bigge , of Mount Brisbane , so early as 1 8 th A 1 8 42 “ ” ugust , , when he was stuck up and severely wounded by bushrangers whilst on his way

with stock to settle on his station near Moreton Bay .

Mr . Bigge , who is still to the fore and lives in

the West of England , has himself furnished me with the narrative of the dramatic event— which is one w that ill interest my readers , as it forcibly brings before them the lawlessness of those early days and the peril s then attached to travelling away from

settlement . ’ A Mr . Bigge s party consisted of lexander

M cDo n a l d N l C . T , Joseph ott, and Danie ollins his

Co w a st u r e party of four had left the p River in July , 1 842 , with about two hundred head of horses to

M B a travel to Mount Brisbane , oreton y ; about ﬁfty

Mr . head belonged to Mackenzie , and he and Balfour

Th e were to j oin the party later on . party travelled ’ t h e by Ravensworth , then Dr . Bowman s , on Hunter

R ive r A 1 2th f e w , stopping there , about ugust , for a days on their way to the Peel River where they camped on good grass . When out the following morning looking up their horses Bigge was j oined by a stranger who said he was also looking for his horses . and with whom he had some conversation before parting this stranger no doubt being one of the bushrangers who afterwards attacked the party .

A A u 1 8 th fter mustering their horses on ug st ,

1 12 T E N A M H I . O , N S W .

Bigge ’s party made their start and had not got far on their road before three horsemen appeared out o f a patch of scrub and ordered Bigge and his men to

dismount , presenting three double barrels at them to ’ enforce their demand . Bigge s party dismounted ,

and Bigge being ordered to strip , which he refused to

o f wa s do , one the bushrangers , who no other than ” To m n the celebrated Long , seeing Bigge tryi g to

a l l disengage his pistols , which were the arms possessed by the party apparently , shouted to his

mate , a man called Wilson , to shoot Bigge . Wilson “ ff To m ﬁred without e ect . Long , however . shot Bigge through the shoulder a n d Bigge ﬁred in e ff e ct u a l l y with his pistols , but received other shots from t h e n bushrangers through his coat , and receivi g no assistance from his party, seems , from Evan Mac ’ kenzie s letter to his father , Sir Colin Mackenzie of

Kilcoy , describing the event , to have behaved very

a pluckily and scared the bushrangers , whose sw g ’ and horses were found in the mob of Bigge s hor ses the following morning . Bigge lay for some time in N imin ga r hut near T . d amworth , where Dr Jay attended to his woun s which did not heal until a splinter of the bone was t aken out of his shoulder . Th e bushrangers were seen by Martin the postman “ o ff the night of the attack , sixteen miles , Long

” To m sending Bigge a complimentary me s sage by

. T w o him hey did not, ho ever , l ng evade capture , Wilson bein g taken by Corporal Kirk and Trooper

1 13 8 E E A A TTE jOU R N A L OF A Q U NSL ND SQU R .

4th To m f e w Stevenson on September , and Long a l days after , the third man who formerly be onged to “ o ff their party having been turned , Wilson said , for not ﬁring at Bigge when told to do so . Probably 1 843 he was made away with . In March , the follow in g year, when arraigned at Maitland assizes Wilson “ and Thomas Forres ter (a l ia s Long To m both pleaded guilty to wo u nding with intent Francis w T Ed ard Bigge . heir pleading greatly surprised the judge ; in reply to his question th e v said they had T both been transported for life . hey were sentenced to death and executed at Newcastle jail some little time after .

Th e ir l Judge (S Wil iam Burton) told Mr . Bigge that after they were executed a free pardon and £3 00 W had been received in the Colony for ilson , and that he was the natural son of a baronet well known in London society . Our nearest township at B u r b u r ga t e was Gun n e d a h m o ff , eight iles , a distance I used to trot “ ” with my excellent horse Foxhound in half- a n A hour , though , generally speaking , ustralian horses are more taught the slow canter than the fast

To u trot as a journey pace . get to G nnedah we had to cross the Namoi , often in ﬂood , so we used to stretch a thick taut rope to giant gum t o trees on each side , and this rope fasten a big

h e a v block , by which v weights , even to bales of w ool , were drawn from one side of the river to the other . It wa s considered a good trial of

1 14:

C H APT E R I X .

A TRIP TO THE DARLING .

AB OU T this time a proposal was made to me by

r M . Edward Lloyd that I should get my elder

brother , then residing on the Darling Downs , to join me in an expedition down the River Darling ,

25 Bu r b u r a t e some 0 miles below g , to inspect and report upon two valuable blocks of country on

“ - e the north west side of that river , and poss ssing T thirty miles frontage to it . his country lay at the

W a r r e o n conﬂuence of the g with the Darli g , about T ’ forty miles below Sir homas Mitchell s old camp, k called Fort Bour e , and Mr . Lloyd had obtained the

- i - n . refusal of the blocks from his brother law , Dr

Jenkins . Mr . Lloyd proposed that if we approved of this country we should enter int o a partnership agreement with him to improve and stock the run

ﬁ n on j oint behalf, on his ndi g the capital to do so

at an easy rate of interest .

A s the country on the Darling , which up to this time had been chieﬂy used as a harbour of refuge in great droughts for the settlers in the upper parts of

its various heads , was commencing to attract atten

1 1 6 A T I T TH E A I N R P O D RL G .

tion not only from its intrinsic grazing qualities , but from being found navigable in certain seasons below

wa s Fort Bourke , there a good deal to recommend m the proposal , and I lost no time in sub itting it to

my brother , whose reply came in person , as he “ ” m made tracks to the Na oi at once , riding over fro m the Darling Downs in a very short space of

te b a n h e u r . a r l c o time Mr . Lloyd gave us c to ﬁt out

B u r b u r a t e small expedition from g , an expedition

which , although it was to be mostly through stocked

country , still possessed considerable elements of risk ,

w o ﬂ as not much was kno n of the country the river ,

W a r r e o especially up the g , the blacks about those

parts being yet uncivilised .

We lost no time in getting our expedition ready , as the rainy season was approaching and we ex pe ct e d ﬂoods to succeed the dry weather that had laid

e the country pretty bare . W secured a few hardy “ station horses and the services of Flash Billy ,

B u r b u r a t e king of g blacks , who took as mate another ” m good boy , Jonathan by name , who he called his “ brother . Flash Billy was a wonderful fellow ; he

h ﬁ r st - was a dead s ot , and a rate cook , rarely missing a black duck when ﬁring for the pot and cooking him perfectly afterwards . He was always in good

e humour , and nev r short of hobbles , as he had a marvellous way of making up his equipment when it ran short . He would drink , of course , when he got grog , but the brass plate on his splendidly h im developed chest , proclaiming King of the

1 1 7 E jO U R N AL OF A Q UE E NSLA ND SQ UA TT R .

B u r b u r a t e g tribe , was not without its pledge of responsibility to his employer and his “ honour

amongst thieves . Often in colonial after days have I wished for Flash Billy ” and his invaluable services

n in tracki g and ﬁnding horses , and looking out for

good camping places , but he was tied to his kingdom and would never leave it for long . Th e country between B u r b u r ga t e and Walgett was

” called the Namoi , as being watered by the river of that name , till it became the Darling after its j unction l l with the Barwan . A this country was divided into 10 1 5 good cattle stations , having from to miles

v frontage to the ri er , either on one side or the 20 m other , and perhaps iles back , but seldom Th taking in both sides . ese stations were generally pretty bare on the river frontage , owing to the cattle feedin g and lying about near the water ; b u t further back from the river the country got m ore grassy, with plenty of mayall and saltbush , a h great deal of w ich has now disappeared , but which in old days turned out the pr ime st cattle for the Sydney markets . There were hardly any sheep west of Gurley in those days . These cattle stations were mostly owned by well- to - do old colonists living in and

around Sydney , Richmond and the Hawkesbury ,

Bathurst and so on , who were content to inspect

e a r their properties once a y , to decide on the fat

o ff stock to be taken when ripe for market , but who left the general charge of the station to smart

A T I TO T R P H E DA RLI NG.

l a responsib e stockmen , who worked the st tion with T black boys . hese boys had wives , or black gins , ’ who generally did the honours o f the stockm a n s

hut , and that with no little grace and good humour,

furnishing generally a good feed , of prime beef and

damper , to the hungry traveller , whether he came

from up or down the river . T here were few paddocks in those days , and we

en e r a l l ca m e d f g y p for good feed , as far away rom

head stations as we could . Our tent was a strong b calico ﬂy , open at oth ends , our saddles and packs

occupying the centre , and ourselves taking one end

and the black boys the other . With plenty of

- - leaves from the sandal wood or emu bush , and a waterproof sheet to keep out the damp , with a good

pair of blankets to boot , we lay very comfortable

and snug . 1 5 0 Our ﬁrst stage of miles to Walgett , then a

- wretched looking place , brought us to a couple of

- primitive public houses and a very expensive sto re , where we renewed our supplies , as we were told that between Walgett and Fort Bourke we sho uld have to depend on t h e kindness o f stations to a llow us to buy ﬂour , tea and sugar , which became scarce articles the further west you went . ’ We limited our day s s tage generally to some 25 miles a day ; this chie fly depended o n the

e we state of feed , and the d tours had to make to avoid bad crossing places necessitating often the

r fording of creeks , or , if it was the main rive , a big

121 jo URNA L OF A Q UE E NSLAND S Q U A TTE R .

swim . If canoes were not handy at the usual crossing place , we had to construct them of bark , bi stripped from the g river gum , by the indefatigable

o u r arms of black boys , who were splendid hands T with the tomahawk . hese canoes would be

a cleverly stripped , so as to llow one end to be t stopped up wi h mud , and take in our saddles and packs , to be guided over the river by Billy and m Jonathan , who swam like otters , y brother and myself, who were not much behind our boys in that respect , driving the horses after the canoe . Our nags got so used to follow the canoes , that , before our expedition was over , they gave us hardly any trouble in taking to the water and landing on t h e right side after their swim across . A bout 1 5 0 to 200 miles more brought us to the country Mr . Lloyd wanted us to inspect , which was

G u n d a bo o k a b opposite , a station then held y the

“ brothers Spence who had settled there very recently , some 3 0 miles below what is n o w the big town

o f ship Bourke , which was originally founded on the T t site of an old camp of Sir homas Mi chell , Surveyor

General of New South Wales , who had called a stockade he there made of huge gum logs Fort

. Th e Bourke , after Governor Bourke township is now a very important one , being the terminus of the Western Railway of New South Wales and

r m the head of the navigation of the Darling , f o the eventual canalization of which , with its pro bable irrigation , enormous possibilities are undoubt

1 22

A TRI P TO THE DA RLI NG . m e d l . y in store Moreover , from its wide eat supplies , it is not too much to say that Bourke may at no very d istant date become the Chicago of

Australia . We were at once enabled to authenticate t he k T position of our bloc s , Mere and oorale , by the line of timber that marked the j unction of the

W a r r e o g River , one of the most important of the c o n ﬂu e n t s of the Darling that join it on its north western ba n k .

Th e . S Messrs pence were very hospitable , and gave us all the information they could . We estab l ish e d iv our camp on the other side of the r er ,

a n d opposite their head station , spent a fortnight

n f in thoroughly explori g the country under of er .

W a r r e o We also went some distance up the g , that river assuming larger propor tions above its junction with the Darling than we could have believed likely by its appearance at the junction ; not at all an unfrequent characteristic of central and western A watersheds in ustralia , which oftentimes have a

a s tendency to die out they terminate their course . A Being midsummer , and that part of ustralia ex t r e mel t y hot , we did most of our work early and la e , and spent our slack time in skimming the river in our bark c a noes and ﬁshing for cod and yellow bellies , as also shooting ducks when our supplies h t t e u . ran short , Flash Billy being s res sportsman Mere and Toora l e consisted of lightly timbered and thinly grassed ridges near the frontage , with

1 25 L E E A D A T jO U R N A OF A Q U NSL N SQ U TE R .

l wide , arid , and thinly grassed p ains at the back of the river . It was then impossible to judge what the country might become thereafter by stocking , but

a n d r as it stood we saw it , it compared unfavou ably M with the Darling Downs country in oreton Bay , and that of Liverpool Plains we had just left on the N amoi . So much so that we made up our m ’ inds it wasn t good enough , and we should go in ’ f for something better , and refuse Mr . Lloyd s of er when we got back .

in s e c Of course , when we turned back after our p tion , we could not help feeling a little disheartened , but little did we think what that country was to turn out some few years after , when stations on the

Darling came to be stocked with sheep , and rapidly i improved under the process , so that the distr ct

o f became famous for fattening all descriptions stock , and growing the ﬁnest of merino wool .

Th e country we refused to take up and stock , oddly enough was destined to form a considerable portion of the famous Dunlop Station , which capped the fortunes of that great shepherd king, Mr . Sam

M cCa u h e d g y, and enable him to pay the vendor a huge yearly sum as the proceeds of the settlement for this thriving property . So much for the ups and ’ ’ downs of the squatter s life . Had we accepted Lloyd s f T of er and stocked oorale , who knows what hard work and good fortune might not have done for us 7’ Amongst other beneﬁts Toorale brought with it hereafter , was a certainty of obtaining great artesian

1 26

T E A RI P TO TH DA RLI NG .

l o w supplies at a depth , so that the country back from the Darling could be watered by artesian wells

to the full extent of its grazing capacity . Our jou rney back was a good deal delayed by rains that brought down creeks and rivers “ Bankers , and , what with continual swims and t “ shor supplies , we became thin by degrees , and ” “ beautifully less . Our black boys , who smelt

” home , behaved splendidly in all these crossings

r e cr o ssin s o n e and g of ﬂooded rivers , and on F occasion , that will long live in my memory , lash Billy certainly earned our gratitude by literally savin g t h e party from a watery grave by his ﬁne l ’ b ack fellow s instinct . W e had camped for the night belowthe big dam “ ” at Bungle Gully , a station owned by a famil y

v of the name of E ans , and turned in ; the rain that ﬂ was falling increased to a deluge , ooding our tent ,

the boys started talking rapidly to each other , and soon after Flash Billy brought the horses to us and

woke us up , urging us to shift the camp at once , and

get out of the danger of the waters , should the big

dam burst . We lost no time in striking camp and going round to the homestead above the dam a mile

o ff a n d , soon after we had put our things under

the store verandah , we heard the roar made by the

waters that had burst throu gh the dam , thus

’ realizing Flas h Billy s extraordinary instinctive

we dread . There could be no doubt that , had w t remained here we were , no hing could have saved

1 29 U R ‘ L F A E E AN jO N A O Q U NSL D SQ UA TTE R .

us , for it was one of the biggest sheets of water in the country , being backed up for several miles . Th e only other adventure we had on our t rip

wa s t back meeting with a white madman , s ark k m na ed , who was brought to us by so e blacks oppo Th . e site Brewarrina station poor fellow , till he fell

wit h l t h e se in blacks , must have existed on berries or possibly on mussels in the waterholes . He had been with those who found him a bout ten days . He was

- a muscular , well built man about thirty , and his skin was tanned a bright red with the action of the sun . He wa s good tempered and had quite a happy

wa s smile . He glad to put on the clothes we spared him amongst us , and to travel with us to the next

station , to await a convoy of native police to take

e T him by coach to the near st police station . hese

in cases are not unfrequent the bush , and it is extraordinary how they are accompanied by a h a ppy T unconsciousness of the troubles of life . his man ’ had apparently not suffer e d by his six months

n wa derings , for his hair and beard denoted at least m ’ h a six onths growt . Th e new year of 1 8 61 saw us back to B u r b u r ga t e

a t o all right , and we were gl d recruit on fresh food

e u d t h e and prim fr its , for the stations own river had

nearly all gone short of rations , and those that had

Te a any ﬂour had it weevilly and sour . and su gar

t ea had been running short , and what there was in

use was that old - fashioned green tea so often sent up to the back tracks without ever having seen

1 3 0

C H APT E R X .

A PIONEERIN G I N CENTRAL QUEENSL ND .

I W AS not destined to remain much longer on the 1 8 61 Namoi , for early in I received from Gordon

wa s Sandeman , who about to be connected with me f by marriage , an of er to undertake on certain favo u ra ble terms the stocking and development of the greater portion of the Peak Downs district in h i Central Queensland on s behalf. Th is tract of picturesqu e and bea u tiful country had been ﬁrst traversed and called Pea k Range by Leichardt on his expedition to P o rt Essington in 1 845 , when he had named several of the Peaks after the companions of his trip , and he had again sighted

n 1 9 A 1 846. Peak Ra ge on his second trip on th pril , In the interesting account published of his ﬁrst expedition , Leichardt gives a sketch of the Peak

u Range and the undulating plains that s rround it , and states that if the plains of Peak Range were only adequately watered they would form some of

the ﬁnest country in Australia . No wonder then 1 4 8 5 . A that , some years later , in , the Messrs rcher made an expedition from the Burnett to take up

in i new pastures that direct on , and secured most of

1 3 2

jO U R N AL OF A Q UE E NSL AND SQ UA TTE R .

s e in . ince becom the country , viz , the man who t r avel s from station to station asking for rations and

t h e for work , second of which he heartily prays he may not get . I will say this for the Namoi forty years ago , that everything pros pered in the pastoral districts with the industrious , whether he was a

- teamster , bush contractor , shearer , or drover ; for he did then put by the foundation of a comfort able independence fr om the well - earned wages he received . I agreed with Sandeman to rendezvous at his

B u r a n d o wa n station , on the Burnett , as soon as I could get there , as our expedition to survey Peak

Downs was to start from that station . So I travelled from t h e Namoi to the Darl ing Downs overland and on horseback , following pretty much the same road ’ I had taken three years before with Dr . Rowe s sheep . I made a hospitable station every night , and heard there t h e squatting news o f the district I travelled through and gave mi ne i n excha n ge over a pipe , and not unfrequently over a glass of grog , if t h e station drays had happened to have recently arrived .

n I made for Warwick , and thence once agai traversed the incomparable Darling Downs , hunting up my good kind friends at Gowrie , who were always glad to see me , thence by Dalby , Jimbour , ’ B u r a n d o wa n Charlie s Creek to , noting everywhere the great progress of settlement on the Darling

Downs , and the evidence of comparative luxury

1 3 6 I E E I I N CE T A UE E LVS L ALVD P ON R NG N R L Q .

l l following the earlier days of settlement . A this wa s

owing to good prices for wool , and a good demand for wethers for the south and breeding ewes for the

t n or h .

B u r a n d o wa n a n d I arrived in good time at , at once began organizing our party for th e Peak

Downs expedition , a trip with a good spice of

R OCK H AM P TON I N F L OOD .

v t ad enture in it . Our par y consisted of Sandeman

T - ﬁ rst - and myself, ommy , a half caste boy , a rate

M t wo horseman and tracker , and ungo and Billy ,

- \ e pure caste black boys . V took a certain number

B u r a n d o wa n u of bred horses , but intended f rther to recruit our horse fle sh when we got to Rock

3 00 1 7 272 hampton , a journey of about miles , d 1 8 5 5 Gayn ah and my old road of , past Rawbelle

1 3 7 L D UA TTE R jO URNAL OF A Q UE E N S AN S Q .

w t e and Rannes , hich I found now q uite set l d places .

R n o w ockhampton , the chief town and port of the Central Distri cts of Qu eensland and a consider

in 1 8 61 able city , was only a stirring and lively

Th e township . wonderfully rich Canoona diggings ,

l ﬁ o r an isolated alluvia deposit , dif cult to trace to l 1 8 5 8 explain , had started the place in Ju y , , and after these diggings were worked out the exodus of squatting speculation to th e central and northern districts from the south had kep t it goi n g at some

g what hi h pressure .

Th e site of the town , which was virtually deter

A in 1 5 . 8 5 mined by the Messrs rcher , is , as most of l my colonial readers wil at any rate know , situate on the Fitzroy River some 40 miles from its mouth l Ba . Th e at Keppel y situation is a happy one , be ow “ a barrier of rocks , which say halt there to the fur ther navigation of the Fitzroy River by steamers

Th e h of any size . river is broad and andsome , whilst distant ranges and smaller hills close to pre 1 1 vent any dull monotony . In 8 6 galvanized iron

p a r t played a great in the buildings of that period , and Rockhampton could not then boast of the many

i n o w handsome ediﬁces , publ c and private , which it

Th e possesses . town presented a busy scene , as many expeditions similar to our own were daily

Th e starting west and north in quest of country . co u ntry on the enormous watershed of t h e Fitzroy seemed virtually boundless , and included the ﬁne

E TT jO U R N AL OF A Q UE NSLAND SQ UA E R .

u tro pical haunts . From Yaamba we jo rneyed by

b u Canoona , Princhester , and Marl oro gh stations ,

v about a hundred miles to Wa erley , the property

Messrs . Macartney and Mayne had secured on the ﬁ n e marine pl ains that there skirt the seaboard

and form admirable cattle stations , held by our

friends to this day . Macartney was most entertaining and helpfu l ; he was then in that fu ll physical vigour which often led him in t h e many rides he took from station to m l station , to ride a hundred i es and over in one

day , and that on the same horse . No man in d Queenslan , I suppose , has ever ridden as hard as A rthur Macartney has , or has traversed so much t h of e central and western districts of that Colony . Sandeman managed to secure the leases he had

W o l f a n w come to buy , afterwards called g, hich proved hereafter of some importance to my brother

and myself, as through subsequent arrangements

we became partners in that property . At T Waverley we heard that horne , lately of ’ a Ch rlie s Creek station on the Burnett , and a ’ m S a n d e ma n s quonda neighbour of , had gone t h e ahead of us to take up Cotherstone run , a

piece of country on the north - eastern side of Peak

Range , and as his tracks were still fairly fresh , we determined to follow them over the rough country that separated Broad Sound from the 1 20 Peak Downs , which was about miles as the

crow ﬂies .

140 E E I I N CE T A U E E A PI ON R NG N R L Q NSL ND .

Th e ﬁrst part of the road was over the main coast

n range , and meandered , duri g an ascent of some

bu t feet , in anything a straight line , and through rough ranges , where we for the ﬁrst h T time heard the co e eys of t e native blacks . hese “ ” gen u ine co e e ys denoted that the blacks saw us ’ we though didn t see them , and were on that account

w . some hat impressive However , we kept watch at night , and without any event of mark found our ’ selves on the fourth d a v of our journey at Thorne s

f e w encampment , distant but a miles from the Peak T Range , the country horne had settled upon being an immense improvement on what we had t raversed

O from Broad Sound , though neither so pen nor so well grassed as that which awaited us on the other side of the range . T horne was both hospitable and communicative , hailing Sandeman , of course , as an old neighbour who had pioneered with him on the Burnett many ff years before . He o ered us fresh mounts from some

of his young horses , which mounts , however , as we found out later on , the splendid pastures had ren

dered a bit above themselves . We were in great s pirits in getti n g so quickly and sa f e l v on the

borders of our country , and the prospect of crossing the Peak Range the following day and droppi n g down u pon the splendid plains so temptingly ’ r in L e ich a r d t s f desc ibed and sketched work , illed h us with pleasurable excitement . We sat l a te by t e

f r w T n t )‘ camp i e ith horne , Sandema and he talkin “ t .

141 O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQU R .

over their old Burnett days , and myself extracting

all I could from his overseer about the country , its

w a n d . po ers of fattening , so on

Au 1 8 61 wa s f o r gust , , a glorious season the country we came to explore abundant and unusual rains had fallen early in the month , ﬁlling the many

Th e little creeks that headed from Peak Range .

w ch ie ﬂv a n d country , hich consisted of black

- chocolate coloured loam , had evidently been burnt before this late rain by the blacks , and the undu lating plains that lay und er t h e picturesque peak s that formed the so - called range were clothed with a

o carpet of burnt feed , forming a vivid green d tted w v a r ie t ith a v of wild ﬂowers , also many kinds of

a n d e wild peas v tches , wild cucumbers , and other l w. trailing p ants I did not then kno Never after , during my long experience of the district , did I see — I it in such splendid condition might , indeed , say

— e a glory as when our littl party, fter some buck ’ j umping at the start on the part o f Thorne s young horses (which only damaged the packs), started from T ’ horne s camp , ascended this low range , and dropped on the rolling downs the other side , the most of which country we knew to be included in the tenders that had been transferred by the Archers to

Sandeman . We ascended one of the twin peaks called by “ ’ w Leichardt Brown and Charlie s Peak , hich rose 7 00 or 800 feet from the high downs at its

co u n t r base , and from that point the v lay before

1 42

ma i us like a p, enabl ng us to identify with more or less accuracy the site of the creeks and the A ’ position of the various blocks on rcher s tracing ,

O which we carried with us . It seemed all pen

country before us and on both sides , and we could t not look upon this vas stretch of open land , clothed

r with the richest he bage and grasses , without forming dreams of future success and its accompanying

fortune . As we descended from that preliminary survey of

our realms to be , and followed the biggest watershed

we could make out and trace with our glasses , our t spirits rose , and mutual exclamations of interes Th were the order of the day . e spare horses could

v hardly be dri en along , so anxious were they to crop the sweet burnt feed . Huge kangaroo lazily turned round to gaze at the new intruders before hopping majestically away ; bronzed - wing pigeons sprang up on every side with the strong whirr of perfect condition ; the grey- headed wild turkey or bustard s t alked about in robust alarm ; whilst occasional mobs of the statelier emu trotted round us with their f usual curiosity . Nature , in act , both as regards ﬁ l l season and time , was at its , before the hand of the white ma n had been able to set its riches to good account . To my last day will I remember with fi ﬁ grati cation that rst impression of the Peak Downs , with its many glories of anticipation . To Sandeman the sense of possession must have fl been sweet ; as for myself, I thought chie y of the

145 10 O U R N AL A E E A A T j OF Q U NSL ND SQU TE R . responsibility in turning a district so evidently promising to the best account . However , I was full of hope , and although many of my anticipations d were destined to remain unfulﬁlle , I never regretted the ﬁfteen years of my life I devoted thereafter to

the developm ent of Peak Downs .

Consulting our charts as we went along , we f ollowed the main watershed above referred to for 20 about miles from Peak Range , making our m ﬁrst ca ping place on the Peak Downs , strangely

enough , as it turned out , at a spot a mile from where

I afterwards placed my head station , named Gordon T Downs , after Gordon Sandeman . his creek was set ’ A B el co mb e down on rcher s chart as Creek , Bel

combe , in the native Peak Downs language , being “ “ m Ca mo o held to ean Baal , or no water , not

a promising name ; and , indeed , in after years notabl y in 1 8 62 and 1 8 68— Ou r head station creek did certainly bear out the name the blacks had

As given it . the creek had been so recently ﬁlled “

it was impossible to determine its lasting powers , and the same doubt applied to all the creeks we

u then s rveyed .

Th e country was easy of identiﬁcation , as the

Peaks made excellent landmarks , so we set about the resolute exploration of the creeks that passed ’ S a n d e ma n s through country , which , commencing at

Bel co mb e the eastern side , had been named Crinum , , l A Capel a , bor and Retro Creeks , which formed the chief watersheds of th e southern side of Peak

146

R AL A E E I V L AN D A TTE jO U N OF Q U S SQ U R . had made our leases secure and Sandeman had drawn out t h e applications for the country still m fﬁ unclai ed , to be sent in to the Land O ce at Rock

a s hampton soon as opportunity would permit . A ’ Having ﬁnished the survey of rcher s country , that of the blocks we had secured from Macartney of

Waverley next claimed our attention , and for this p u rpose we h a d been joined by that ﬁne bushman

A . Claudius Ker , who originally had taken up the

l f n S O W o a g country and sold it to Macartney , we

W o l f a n - went on to g, at the south west corner of the

Peak Downs ; the country , if less undulating in its character , we found exceedingly rich and the pasture superb . It was easily identiﬁed by a ’

r . singula isolated peak resembling a dog s tooth ,

W o l f a n T which Ker had not inaptly called g. his rocky peak start ed abruptly out of the plain to i 800 900 e the he ght of or f et , and was rather difﬁ cult of ascent ; a cave towards the summit contained salt , which augured well for the saline nature of the pasture . Indeed , in the years of developmen t that followed o u r ﬁrst trip no shee p throve better in the district than those grazed within sight of W o l f a n g Peak . From its top a very grand view of the range and the rolling downs that ran up

O to its foot could be btained , which in a quiet harmonious way I often thought as ﬁne a pastoral

n lan d scape as there was in Quee sland . Further on in these pages I have alluded to station life at

W o l f a n g, which I trust may be interesting to those

148

O A OE A E E L A S UA TTE R j URN L Q U NS ND Q .

- t Bidding good bye to the small par y left behind ,

1 8 61 a o late in October, , we made our st rt s uth

e d towards the Burn tt , inten ing to give a call if possible upon an energetic old ' Victorian

Mr . squatter , Wills , who had settled about a hundred and ﬁ fty miles south of Peak Downs upon some ﬁne black soil country similar to

u ours , which had been explored and taken p by

a P . F . Macdon ld , of Yaamba , and sold to Wills , who had purchased sheep on the Darling Down s a n d Burnett (some of them from Sandeman) and travelled north with what was in those days a l m t & s c . remarkably libera equip en of teams , tores ,

W an d ills , being a wealthy man one of great

pastoral experience , his advent to the new country

was hailed as a great encouragement to others . S n andema , a good black boy , and myself made our start from Peak Downs with b u t three or four ’ days rations , hoping to make Richards Station ,

u near Springs re , in that time , which we should have h done had it been all plain sailing . T e scrubs of the various branches of the N o go a made travelling

ﬁ ﬁ n e very dif cult , and we soon found that the country we had left behind was somewhat of an “ 100 m oasis in the desert , and that miles ore or less of inferior and scrubby country separated the downs of Peak Range from those of Springsure . ’ At our second day s camp an occurrence took

e . Ou r plac that ﬁlled us with alarm black boy , in coming to camp with the nags , was in a state of

1 5 2 I E E I I N CE T A U E E N L AI V P ON R NG N R L Q S D .

i high excitement , and reported hav ng met a ﬂying

mob of blacks loaded with new blankets , moleskin trousers and blue shirts ; we knew thereby that some station must have been looted and possibly

wild work done . We felt very gloomy , and our rations being short did not detract from the cheer

lessness of the situation , there being nothing more depressing than travelling through scrub on an t h empty stomach . We were very glad on e ﬁfth day from Peak Downs to come upon the tracks of

bullocks and horses , which on being followed up led

us to the welcome sight of a distant hut . Losing no

time in unsaddling at the creek , we sent our boy up

b u t to the for supplies , and he came back with

young Richards , whose appalling story more than conﬁrmed the alarm we had felt a day or t wo before when the black boy had seen the blacks ﬂying with

h a d their booty , which no doubt formed part of the

stores stolen from Wills . ’ Mr . Richards story was a tragic one . He told us

t h a t . l e ss w than a week ago Wills , together ith his overseer and wife and child and nineteen station hands , had been massacred by the blacks , this slaughter having evidently been well concocted a m ong the wretches , as the men were all struck

down at a given time , when the various hands had come in and were resting from thei r avocations in

Th e the heat of the d a y after the noonday meal . only man saved was an old stager shepherding the

a n d rams , who got into a tree on hearing the cries , ,

15 3 O U R N AL A E E A A TT j OF QU NSL ND SQ U E R . after witnessing the plundering of the stores and t ra ions by an immense mob of blacks , had made

n tracks to the earest station , which I think was ’ T Orion Downs , to warn Wills neighbours . hese were chieﬂy men of great energy and considerable

experience , and numbered among them Messrs . T M Patten , Gregson , homson , acintosh , Richards , and

others , who soon made up a party to pursue the

blacks . Richards gave a vivid description of the chase and of the combat that had taken place at

dawn of day , which was , however , of so undecisive a character that it was not till the advent of Lieu tenant Cave and the native police that the mu rderers of Wills and his party were pursued and thoroughly

punished for their misdeeds . Th e feeling in the outside country became deeply m aroused by this terrible assacre , which no doubt acted as a warning to many not to trust or admit

the blacks , a plan Sandeman and some of the other d old pioneers had always advocate , but from which

Wills had dissented . He had come north , he had

d r t e x e said , to Queenslan , afte his long Vic orian p r ien ce s , prepared to civilise and make use of the

aborigines , and he had made friends with them from T the ﬁrst . hey had got to know all about his habits and hours and the tempting nature of the supplies he

f o r had brought up , and had , greed , deliberately

planned and carried out this wholesale murder . Poor Wills paid the penalty o f his kindness and

- over co n ﬁ d e n ce .

15 4

O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

a n d Downs for my equipment , had then a good opportunity of marking the progress made on stations there since I left the district three years before . High prices for sheep and wool were working wonders in the improvement of properties , which were all yielding substantial returns ; these found their way largely into the pockets of the Govern l ment , as the ucky holders of Darling Downs stations had begun to put together , by securing themselves by their pre - emptive right against coming

r e selection , the freehold estates that have been

is t a in e d by some to this day . It certain that at this time Darling Downs stations were coining money ; young wethers for the Port Philip market were

2 1 4s . 1 s . fetching to a head , and for northern settle ment you could get for good ewes 1 5 s . and for maiden

203 . M ewes up to per head , whilst erino wool kept

l - up wonderful y , some well washed Darling Downs

d . 2s . 6 clips going up to per pound . Drayton and Toowoomba divided claims for the position of the capital of the Eastern Darling w Do ns , Dalby that of the Western portion , and Wa rwick was the chief township for the Southern T t part of this favoured district . hese ownships all wore an appearance of prosperity ; the stores were always full, and the chief hotels were the rendezvous of squatters and their managers and

overseers , discussing to late hours the varied

An d l movements of stock and stations . certain y

1 5 6 V E T A E E P I OL E E R I N G I N C N R L QU NSLAND . these squatters of the Darling Downs in those good Ol d times were a ﬁne set of men ; generall y men of education and mostly of reﬁnement , who had brought to that favoured portion of Queensland the habits and ways of gentlemen ; so that if the

Darling Downs did for many years , so to speak , rule Queensland and legislate possibly to somewhat selﬁsh ends , this early legislative power might certainly have fal len into far less scrupulous

An d and more dangerous hands . certainly on the whole it was a matter of immense future import that not only was the character of Queensland ’s early settlers such as I have described it , but that when settlement followed westwa rd and northwa rd there were pioneers of the same ’ stamp ready to undertake the development of those extensive terri tories . Th e main point in providing a good start for the object I had in view was certainly to get the best material in men , stock , teams , and general equip ment , and to that end Sandeman had provided the requisite means with his agents in Sydney during his absence in England ; so I felt a free agent , entrusted with a great responsibility . Fortunately

I had youth , energy , and experience . I had no difﬁ culty in getting good men on the Darling Downs for my purpose . I had arranged to take up some

ﬁfteen thousand good breeding ewes , and one thou

B u r a n d o wa n sand ration wethers from , also three good bullock teams , one horse team , and a fair

1 5 7 ' O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

T . o supply of hacks drive the lot , the party con sisted of eight seasoned shepherds , three good bullock drivers , a horse driver , and a famous general knockabout man— Rody Hogan by name also , of course , a cook . Following my main mob of sheep I took in charge of the rams Edmund

’ Filmer Craven , an old friend of my principal s ,

i i who , after res gn ng a naval career that might l have been bril iant , had made at his own request a fresh start , and that in the bush under my m auspices . I am glad to say that , after any ups and

o f downs , this scion an old stock is serving Her Majesty as one of her police magistrates in Queens land with credit and success . I had no overseer or assistant at the start , but later on was joined ﬁ m by a very ef cient amateur . It spoke well for y self- co n ﬁ d en ce in those days that I made my start

n for this new country without an assista t , but I had been enjoined to practise the strictest economy, and was eager to act up to my instructions . Th e distance from B u r a n d o wa n to Peak Downs

3 5 0 . I roughly computed at miles , and my best road

T T Gwa mb a n e lay by aroom , Palm ree Creek , gy ,

B a n h in ia Downs , and Springsure , up to which I

- would have the beneﬁt of newly stocked country . From Springsure to Peak Downs we were to make fﬁ our own roads , and I anticipated some di culty

r there in getting through the sc ub . My Christmas was spent pleasantly enough at B u r a n d o wa n before ’ k d n S a n d e ma n s . O e e starting , Mr Parry , manager ,

1 5 8

O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

for their expedition on the north - east coast of

Queensland .

Henry Gregory was tough as whalebone , and used

G wa mb a n e B u r a n d o wa n to ride from gy to , a two ’ days ride , it was said , with one pocket full of

oatmeal and the other of sugar , and no other pro

- vision , disdaining , in that semi tropical climate ,

- blanket and ration bags . Single handed , after the

murder of the Frazer family , he pursued the blacks ,

tracking them up from camp to camp , dispersing

them , and doing thereby as much to protect his

neighbours as a whole detachment of police . An account was given me by one who ought to know of Henry Gregory returning late from Taroom

Gwa mb a n e to gy , on a broad moonlight night , not long before an attack was made on the station by a

mob of blacks . He had barely fallen into a sound sleep when a spear was thrust through t h e slabs of

b u t a n d his that went through his blanket , narrowly

He a missed him as he lay in his bunk . st rted up ,

and , on his unbarringthe door , found a large mob

f O of blacks trying to orce pen the door of the store , which formed the next building in a line with his

hut . He was said to have accounted for two of the

aggressors by his ﬁrst riﬂe shot , and , then to have gone out and shot several others , thus liberating the

cowardly hands that dared not come out of the store .

n e w It was also said that a chum , lately out from

England , had slept most soundly through the whole of this incident . Like all his brothers , Henry

1 60 E T L E E A PI ONE RI NG I N CE N RA Q U NSL ND .

- Gregory was a ﬁ r st rate bushman . He used I

n noticed , in travelli g , after a long day , to wash

w . his horse as a ﬁrst duty , where ater permitted I

e b lieve he is living in England , and should he read these lines he will know his share in the sett lement of

Queensland is not by some wholly forgotten . At B a n h in ia Downs I met the interesti n g family of

w . the Duttons , who sho ed us every attention Of the t wo generations that had there conquered t h e wilder ness several of the sons became successful squatters ,

' a s ir in t o i and one of them , p g polit cal life , became Th for a time Minist er of Lands . e Duttons had been w connected ith my friends the Bells , of Keepit on the Namoi , and I therefore felt as if I knew them ; a more hospitable station to the northern traveller there could not be , and if they were friends of the whites they were no less such to the native blacks , who found in the Messrs . Dutton warm protectors from anything like cruelty or inj ustice . About this time I was joined by young Fred

Want , a son of Mr . R . Want , the eminent solicitor of

Sydney, who had ridden up after me anxious to get on , and , if possible , obtain the rough experience of outside set tlement on Peak Downs . Being full of life and energy and of good temper , fond of horses , and a good horseman , and as by this time I badly w b wanted an assistant , I was glad , ith the scru s of

N o o a the g before me , to take him on , and until he left me some twelve months or so late r he wa s of

n esse tial service on the station . He was unfortunate

161 0 A OF A E E A U A T E R 1 URN L Q U NSL ND S Q T . w ith fever and ague , to which he used to fall a special victim ; there was no better companion , and he was never dull .

As anticipated , we had some ugly days in getting stock and teams across the N o go a River and the brigalow scrubs that lined its banks , much of which we had to cut through . We were singularly for t u n a t e in not losing sheep and in having no sickness amongst the men , or mishap of any kind , arriving

1 8 62 a t about the middle of March , , the camp on

B el c o mb e m Creek Peak Downs , where y brother and his few hands had made all the progress they could Th with a lot of sheep station y ards . e sheep were

n counted , and the total losses amo gst them amounted

s for the j ourney to only forty two , a re ult quite extraordinary on such a big lot for so long a trip . I attributed the health and condition of the sheep to the fact that they came from a comparatively poor country to a - virgin country full of saline grasses and herbage , which led them to improve every day as they moved northwards . Certainly a correspond in gl y long journey with so small a loss was a result I have never heard of since .

R AL A E E N jO U N OF Q U NSLA D SQ UA TTE R .

h . t rough Being anxious to explore the route , with

wa s a view to shorten it , I able to do so to my satisfaction a fter shearing . T here was , of course , much to do and look after

on a newly - formed station with an early shearing in T view a n d a l ambing to follow. here were huts to

build , yards to make , and a head station and store

n to put u der way , roads to make , and rations and

shearing supplies to procure from port . Contracts had to be drawn out for the required

h ad t h e buildings , timber to be found and carriage

" st u ﬂ to be organised to bring in the , whilst the

contractors had to be watched , for bush contractors have a way of evading the strict letter of their

Th e agreement . post that should be put two feet

is into the ground often only put in eighteen inches ,

’ and that makes a wonderful d iﬂe r e n ce in the stability

of fences . It may be the corner post of your hut that is sawn o ff a foot instead of being sunk the proper

depth in the ground , to the eventual detriment of the

w we t building , hich gets a slew in the ﬁrst season ,

with the consequence that out drop the wall plates ,

and the slabs soon follow . A manager should never depute to an overseer the ﬁxing of sites or the

supervision of improvements , whether they be dwell

ll . ings , fences , yards , dams or we s I took great

pride , I recollect , in deciding on the sites of all my

improvements , avoiding slovenly work and badly

j oined ties and wall plates , and in running my

n . fencing lines recta gular , so as to please the eye

1 64 I E E AK D O I/VN L F ON P S .

p Bad im rovements form a continual eyesore , and tell more than is generally imagined against the sale

of a property . Th Of course there is a medium in all things . e era of the ﬁfties and sixties when a b u t and bough yards placed at the back of a waterhole were suffi cient for a couple of ﬂocks of sheep , two shepherds

and a hut keeper , has been followed by that of the

seventies to the present time , when a profusion of paddocks of small area are deemed necessary for your ﬂocks , when your boundary rider requires a paddock for his horses and a smart verand ah cottage for his dwelling , n ot to speak of elaborate wool

sheds that cost a small fortune . Wells and tanks or circular dams , and latterly artesian wells , represent ing large sums , have opened up the back country , which , previously unwatered , has in most instances been found the richest and closest in pasture . Such large concerns as Saltern and Wellshot are instances b h of perfectly unwatered country being made , ylavis

o f . expenditure , to carry immense bodies sheep l Natural water has now , so to speak , litt e to do with the disposition of the stock on one of the se big

Western Queensland runs . We had been fortunate in getting from the Government pretty early in the day the great protection of a detachment of native police , the

G e n it a s wa s lieutenant of which , by name , supposed to be a connection of the accomplished and excellent

ﬁ r G wife of our st overnor , Sir George Bowen , and

1 65 O U R N AL A A TT j OF A Q UE E NSL ND SQ U E R .

like her hailed from those Isles of Greece , where

G e n it a s burning Sappho loved and sung . was an excellent fellow and pleasant companion . We had also a good neighbour at Capella in Sydney Beavan

Davis , a quondam hard rider of the Cotswold and V W . H . . m packs , who had arrived some ti e before us ,

ﬁ r st c l a ss with ﬁne sheep and equipment , to take up P eak Vale , a tract of country at the extreme west of

A n Peak Downs , for lfred Sandeman , then of Felto f Darling Downs . This country Davis had ound on inspection to be mere forest country with plenty of spear grass and its fatal seeds , and anything but the first - class sheep country it had been described to him and sold for ; so Davis had borrowed from us some good sheep country on Capella Creek , about twelve miles from Gordon Downs , where he ran his sheep and went through his ﬁrst shearing and lambing . It f was a sad pity that Davis , rom want of experience

in that line of life , instead of at once giving up the idea of forming a sheep station on such inferior

in country , should have persevered . stocking Peak

Vale with sheep to the eventual loss of his principal , whom no less than himself it largely helped to bring

down . It was so much ca pital and work thrown

away , for the country was only ﬁt for cattle , which " it carries to this day . Poor Davis Many a camp

ﬁre yarn we had in those days , when he would recount the sp lendid runs he had witnessed in the

h e old country , when made Cheltenham his head

quarters , and would describe in glowing terms the

1 66

R N AL A E E N A A E jO U OF Q U SL ND SQ U TT R .

Downs had created as regards Brisbane , for they had at t he beginning of 1 8 62sent up to Peak Downs h as District Surveyor Mr . C arles Gregory , one

- of the brothers of the Surveyor General , and thus early in the ﬁeld he had marked the site of three township reserves on Peak Downs ; the ﬁrst on the big water hole on Crinum Creek called Lilyvale , ’ r the second at Capella C eek, and the third at Hood s

Lagoon , afterwards called Clermont . During his s t ay on Peak Downs I had many a camp with Gregory and had access t o the valuable charts he was making of the district . Like all his

s wa s brother , he a rare good bushman , and , being full of varied information , I was glad to see as

much of him as I could . He was not a strong

man , and I was sorry to hear he got delicate later on and , like those whom the Gods love , died young . ' h I made several expeditions wit him , one of the most in teresting being that of the ascent of B ’ oyer s Peak , which , with its twin peak adjoining , ’ viz . , Scott s Peak , over feet high , divide respectively the honours of being the highest of

n Th e n m fﬁ the ra ge . asce t was ade di cult in that Gregory took his theodolite with him , which enabled him from the summit of Roper ’s Peak to ﬁ x the exact locality of the several la n dmarks

Th e of the district he was surveying . view was certainly magniﬁcent ; below us lay stretched as a variegated carpet the then beautiful plains of L I F E E AK D I/V ON P O N S . Peak Downs which ﬁlled in the prospect towards the south , where the horizon was bounded by the ranges of the N o go a and the dark masses of scrub

between them and the Peak Downs . To the west lay the Drummond Range ; then came the serrated w teeth , so to speak , of the Peak Range , hich we ’ could all identify from L e ich a r d t s book and A ’ ’ rcher s chart , Scott and Roper s Peaks forming the highest as well as the most eastern extremity

s of the range , the next in succession westward

’ ” being respectively Brown and Charlie s Peak ,

’ ” Murphy s Peak , a volcanic cone . then the

ﬂa t - T topped able Mountain , then Mount Donald , “ ’ ” r Awl after which Fletche s , and last of all

l f a n W o . the isolated g Certainly a singular range , 25 not more than miles in length , but from which w ’ the atersheds , radiating like a spider s web and

a increasing in width as they ran south embraced , at 20 3 0 distance of to miles from the range , a width of downs country quite 70 miles in extent . Of the many grasses that clothed this rich country the

barley grass was the chief, and in a good season that grass would give the country the appearance of a well cultivated ﬁeld ; the hardier and coarse r

star grass had not then become so prevalent .

e Of animals we had the kangaroo , of which ther

n v was a goodly umber , but they had not o erwhelmed

18 7 5 - 7 6- 7 7 the district as they did in , after the

n extermination of the wild dog . O the ranges

W k r the allaroo , a blac and stumpie kangaroo , held

1 69 N AL A E E A A TE jO U R OF Q U NSL ND SQ U T R .

his lair . In the way of game we had in the creeks the black duck and the wood duck , both excellent

- eating , and on the plains the bronze wing and i squatter pigeon abounded , whilst the w ld bustard

’ a ﬂo r d e d us an ever abundant change of diet , as they were more numerous than I ever saw them elsewhere I have counted no less than seventy in a

ﬂock on burnt feed , and I have known them weigh up to eighteen pounds . We had also occasional visits from the ﬂock pigeon , a species bigger than the squatter pigeon but smaller than th e bronze

v wing ; this pigeon tra elled in enormous ﬂocks , e vidently birds of passage ; a good shot in the “ brown ” of them could bring down as many as

T . twenty or thirty . hey made splendid pies I think this bird has now moved further west , where I have seen them in ﬂocks so numerous as to make their visits almost a devouring scourge to the seeding grass . At this time I felt keenly the responsibility of holding such an extent of country with what was only a handful of Stock ; for although my lambings were good and some more sheep had been sent up

t h e from Burnett , I felt I had not stock enough for the stretch of country which I had in my

I d istr ibu t e d charge . my sheep , however , to the best advantage I could . I had formed an out station at Crinum Downs , ten miles east of Gordon

Downs , which remained my centre ; then I formed ’ ’ an overseer s camp and out - station at Scott s and

1 70

E A E E jO URNAL O Q U NSLAND S Q UA TTE R .

D wh o donald , the gallant owner of Logan owns , ’ was S a n d e ma n s nearest and best neighbour on the T 1 3 Burnett . his block I occupied in 8 6 with a ﬂock of mixed wethers and weaners in charge of

: t o one of my best shepherds , Hamel by name and look after him in his somewhat isolated position t I had sent a young Frenchman , Cas res by name ,

- n who acted as hut keeper and overseer , ridi g round every day to see Hamel and his ﬂock on t h e plains

” that formed the best part of this little run .

Th e then manager of the Peak Downs station , which lay as the crow ﬂies only about a dozen miles

Ch e e se b o r o u h from g , contrary to most of his neigh bours , harboured and employed a large mob of wild blacks ; and shortly before the event I now recall these blacks had been ﬁred at in a scrimmage that had occurred between them and the men in charge m of a mob of travelling sheep . In this scri mage one of the Peak Downs blacks had been shot , upon which the camp had suddenly broken up , and in revenge the blacks marauded Thorne ’s Cotherstone station T and killed a couple of his shepherds . horne sent at once for the native police from Capella Creek , and no time was lost in following up the main mob m of these rascals . But in the eantime , after mur ’ n T d t o deri g horne s shepher s , the blacks went on Ch e e se b o r o u gh and came across poor Hamel and his ﬂock , and , after hacking him about a good deal , battered in his head and took his sheep away . Castres himself h a d a narrow escape ; for when on

1 72 E AK W LI F E ON P DO NS . his daily round he found that the tracks of Hamel ’s ﬂock lay in a bunch as if the sheep were being driven , he came on to the mob of blacks driving the ﬂock to the scrub that l a y at the head of the ’ t plains . Cas res horse was struck on the nose by a boomerang , the nag reared , Castres fell over , but

most fortunately , however , kept hold of his bridle ,

o n ﬁ managing to scramble , and nding himself

ﬁ r e - without arms he galloped to the nearest station ,

i . Logan Downs , to g ve the alarm Meantime the blacks cut o ff from t h e ﬂock the fattest o f th e d wethers , for which they made a yard at the e ge

of the scrub , and prepared for a great feast at

our expense . However they reckoned without

their hosts .

Th e native police were soon hard on their tracks ,

n and actually , so the sergea t told me after , viewed , from the top of a rid ge dominating the camp the i blacks had chosen , a lot of young blacks of var ous

ages riding the fat wethers round the yard , raising a Th cloud of red dust . e police waited till sundown

for their attack , which did not result in the expected w l slaughter , o ing to the dense scrub and sma l

attacking force . When word of Hamel ’s loss was sent me to

D v Gordon owns , and I rode o er and inspected

Th - . e the scene , it was a curious one wide spread blacks ’ camp stretched over an extent of nearly half a mile ; ﬁres smouldering and strings of fat

decorating the scrub , with bark platters of half

1 73 O U R N A L A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

roasted mutton at every family ﬁre . A couple of

a big bl cks , shot in the act of running , and partly

u s pported by the dense scrub , gave ghastly evidence

of the disturbed feast , the preparations for which had

o n been a large scale . This loss of one of my best shepherds was the only one I experienced during my long stay on

Peak Downs , and it was traceable entirely to an inexperienced manager letting in wild bla cks in large numbers on a station where they were bound soon to

learn the best points of attack . For the next two years I pushed ahead the forma

- tion of these out stations on behalf of Sandeman , t with a view to their disposal as separa e stations , as I could see that a demand for properties in so tempting a portion of Northern Queensland was surely approaching, and when the time came I succeeded in disposing of the bulk of Mr . Sande ’ man s property , together with sheep enumerated as — T follows To Messrs . ravers and Gibson through

T r the active partner , Mr . Roderick rave s , the

Malvern Downs station , which consisted of the heads of Balcombe Creek in and around Scott ’s and Roper ’s Peaks this was sold with sheep for and the purchasers seemed very gratiﬁed w with their bargain . Later on I sold to Mr . Bro n , T a friend of Mr . ravers , a block of country under T able Mountain called Huntly , with sheep for That country was well watered with T l . springs , and very picturesque as wel as rich hen

1 74

jO URNAL OF A Q UE E NSLAND S Q U A TTE R we all had to ﬁght with a severe depression and a t dearth of money tha entailed great sacriﬁ ces . It was fortunate for their owner that these sales of Peak Downs properties had taken place before this crisis came to pass . In the meantime the attention of Victorian capi

t a l ist s u e e n sl a n d . a s was being directed to Q , had previously been the case after the ﬁrst introduction ’ o f Wills ill - fated settlement on the plains of the

N o go a . It may be said to have commenced on a l arger scale on the Peak Downs station by the

a Messrs . Fairbairn , to be soon fterwards extended to t h e wider pastures of the Mitchell and Gregory , where at this date Victorian investments represent mill ions of money . Th e latter end of 1 8 63 and commencement of 1 8 64quite set up a ll the sources of Peak Downs springs for some years ; the rainfall was abnormal a n d enormous , and the tributaries of the Fitzroy poured into it supplies that rendered the country between Peak Downs and Rockhampton wholl y

f o r impassable teams . It was then that the shorter road from Broad Sound to Clermont was initiated , and the country it passed through was certainly less

ﬂooded . Rockhampton was surrounded with water ,

- steamers were moored in mid stream , and I well recollect being weather - bound for a month in that city of mosquitoes , which nearly drove me crazy . T his rainy season , and a couple of fair ones that followed it , were of immense help to the develop

1 76 ' I E LV E AK D ' L F O P O I VN S .

1 8 68 ment of Northern and Western Queensland , being the next dry season : 1 8 65 saw Clermont a rising township with a Police Magistrate , Gold Com

missioner , and Court of Petty Sessions , and the copper mines fairly started , with a capital of T obtained in Sydney . hese works were “ CO e r ﬁ e l d erected at pp , distant three miles from

Clermont ; and , what with the gold found at small rushes near Clermont and the furnaces at

k CO e r ﬁ e l d wor at pp , these twin townships became great factors in the settlement and civilisation of T that part of Queensland . o the squatters com me n cin g operations in and around Peak Downs these townships meant labour for their stations and carriage for their wool ; and some of the brawny Cornishmen imported to the copper mine were not

f n a bove sinking some of my best wells at W o l a g. T hat copper mine promised well , and indeed did famously for a time . Banks and kindred institutions

sprang up , and coach communication by the

universal and invincible Cobb and Co . became so complete an organization as to be of great value to travellers . Amongst the many notable friends and men of action I met for the ﬁrst time about this date was w William Kilgour , of Surbiton , who after ards took

up the management of Gordon Downs for Mr . T ravers , soon after he had purchased it from Sande K man . een , hardy , and resolute , Kilgour soon

became a leading spirit on the Peak Downs , and ,

1 7 7 O N A OF A E E A S A TTE j UR L Q U NSL ND Q U R .

devoting himself to wool growing , managed to get wonderful prices for the Gordon Downs wool in

s 1 3 - 4- 8 7 7 7 5 . tho e cheery years of good prices , ff h Gordon Downs then o ered a charming ome , graced by the presence and inﬁnite hospitality of

Mrs . Kilgour , the sister of the gifted Jean Ingelow . Kilgour is now managing one of the largest financial and pastoral mortgage companies in Sydney . It is well to record here that our first bank m To m anager on Peak Downs was the popular Hall , who Opened the first branch of the Australian Joint A Stock Bank in Clermont . fter a career of steady w ork , I am glad to say Dame Fortune put in his wa y one of her very best chances , of which he

n readily availed himself. He is o w one of the chief

owners of the celebrated Mount Morgan mine . He was always known in the olden days as a model

t S t bank manager, discree and cautious , but ill

n obligi g .

O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

at the time ; the Bench work had become too great a

m - tax on y fellow magistrates and myself, and the go l d ﬁ e l d s round Clermont required attention from

a revenue point of view , so an energetic , active man was undoubtedly required to represent t h e

Government . fﬁ Gri n certainly possessed plenty of energy , and was full of pushing qualiﬁcations ; indeed , soon after his arrival he arrogated to himself a good deal more than even the full powers of his various appointments he had the assistance of Mr . Cave , a plodding but

ffi wh o timid o cer, as Clerk of Petty Sessions , could ’ fi - do but little to check Grif n s overbearing self will . After a time Griffi n had become engaged to a young

a l dy in Rockhampton , and his frequent absences to that town threw a good deal of work and responsi

bil it . y on the local Bench In fact , it was not long before the condition of affairs became such that I took upon myself as Senior Magistrate to request that an inquiry should be made in Bris bane into the

m n conduct of our Police Magistrate , aki g certain d istinct charges , too long to enumerate , but which I

e w could have prov d had not my itnesses , owing to sickness and other causes , been prevented from attending the inquiry at Brisbane , which took place under the presidency of a leading under - secretary of fﬁ the Civil Service . Gri n was acquitted of blame owing to want of evidence had fate ruled it other wise , both crime and mischief would have been prevented .

1 80 A A YS SOM E L AWL E S S DE E D S L N E RL Y D .

fﬁ r Gri n , afte this exoneration , acted more inde pendently than ever ; his absences at Rockhampton

became more and more frequent , and it was said he

was getting into debt . He gave out that he had received word from N e w South Wales that bush

rangers would probably stick up the escort which ,

every month or so , as soon as the quantity became fﬁ su ciently large , was sent down to Rockhampton from Clermont with the gold purchased by the local t bank , the escor returning to Clermont with notes

and bullion for the service of the same bank . Grifﬁ n had evidently made up his mind to take a

desperate step . He gave out , contrary to all usage , that he would accompany the next escort to town , all eging the possibility of its being stuck up as a reason for his trip . It thereafter became evident that he was checkmated from the ﬁrst by the decision and ﬁrmness of Sergeant Julian , who was in charge , and who refused to camp at the Mac kenzie Crossing , on the way down , at the scrubby

fﬁ d fﬁ n spot Gri n had in icated . No doubt Gri was

n baulked on this occasion , or his erve failed him , in getting possession of the untraceable gold , which was , on arrival , safely delivered to the Bank in

Rockhampton . On the start of the return escort Grifﬁ n aecom pa n ie d it to its ﬁrst camp at a lagoon a f e w miles out of Rockhampton , near which resided the lady

wa s to whom he paying his addresses , and there an occurrence took place that threw a light on his

1 8 1 A OF A U E E N S L AN D S UA TTE R jO URN L Q Q .

criminal intentions . He remained in camp to boil w the tea hilst the escort men , including Julian , the sergeant in charge , were out with the horses , and when h e (Julian) returned and tasted the tea Griffi n had made in his absence , he at once spat it out , and T fi emptied the billy . here could be no doubt Grif n had poisoned it with strychnine . Julian , however , very wrongly as it turned out , kept this to himself, w and , refusing to go any further ith the escort , resigned his charge . Had he communicated his suspicions to the other two men , and thus put them t on their guard , they migh have been saved , but ffi Julian was afraid of Gri n . On Julian resigning his

s post the e cort was brought back , and the other

a fi men started with it gain , Grif n accompanying them , this time on the plea that they were short handed . When they reached the Mackenzie River Crossing th e camp was fixed at the scrubby spot ’ ffi f m B e d f o r d s indicated by Gri n , about half a mile ro

- w G ﬁ public house , here rif n had left his horse in order to start back to Rockhampton with t h e

c publi an , Bedford , who was also starting to Rock

a hampton e rly next morning .

n n Duri g the ight Bedford heard two shots , one

m . about idnight , the other about two hours later ’ ﬁ B e d f o r d s d Grif n made his appearance at at aylight ,

carrying a valise in his hand , and looking , as Bed

d . ford sai in his evidence , very pale and disturbed a On Bedford rem rking upon the firing he had heard , Griffi n said he had fired his pistols t o scare any

1 82

O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

’ B e d f o r d s a n d at refreshed themselves , it did not astonish Elliott , who had his ideas pretty well made fﬁ “ up on the subject , when Gri n exclaimed , My " ” God I cannot face this , upon which Elliott at

a n d ff once arrested him , put him in handcu s . On

Dr examination of the victims by . Salmond , the m bodies were found to be , of course , in an extre e state of decomposition ; but the heads had a shot

t h e through each of them , proving thereby that on troopers showing signs of recovery after sickness ffi from their overdose of poison , Gri n had de l i r Th be a t e l y shot them . e black tracker had no diffi culty in fitting the tracks found round the scene

th e b ffi a r ticu with boots worn y Gri n , who had a p l a r Th l y small foot . e circumstantial evidence on which Griffi n was solely convicted wa s extremely well put together , and much credit was reflected

- thereby upon Sub Inspector Elliott . About this time Grifﬁ n had been f ound to have made away with some of the police pay , and also to m have defrauded some China en of a parcel of gold , for which he had given them a worthless escort w . A receipt fter a long and sensational trial , hich wa s ﬁ the talk of the day in Queensland , Grif n was convicted and duly hanged . He refused to confess , but gave a ward er such in formation as enabled him

- to claim the reward for the valise full of bank notes , found soon afte r in a hollow log near the Lagoon

Camp , a few miles out of Rockhampton . It turned out that Grifﬁ n was a married man

1 84 /E L A I L E E E I N E A SOL V S S D DS RL Y DA YS. whose wife wa s in Victoria ; he had thus been livin g

n a double life . No doubt he was , up to a certai d h point , a clever scoun rel , after whic he seems to

n have completely lost his head . I recollect havi g been taxed by some mutual friends with much undue animus against him , but I never wavered in my estimate of the man after I had found out certain reckless and arbitrary ways of his in connection with fi the of ce work . It was hereafter always a marvel to me how Griffi n could have left. so good a record in Brisbane as to have pointed him out to the Colonial Secretary as a fit man for the charge of our Peak Downs district . He certainly was very plausible , had a winning manner and a good deal of

Irish wit ; moreover he was tall , symmetrical in

f o r build , and extraordinarily active , I have known him to follow his kangaroo dogs on foot , hunting T wall aby and k a ngaroo round Clermont . hough he

- fi v e was young then , about thirty to forty , we could see he had led a hard life , and he made no pretence to the refinements of a gentleman . There was some posthumous romance attached to ’ fi a wa s Grif n s crime , as the l dy he engaged to married well and lived happily after : the same may be said of the fi a n cée of the murdered escor t f leader , who , a ter a time of mourning , became the wife of a d istinguished Queensland parliament arian and Minister of the Crown . In those rising days of Central Queensland good wives were scarce , and it is pleasant to reflect that a crime like

1 8 5 O A OE A E E A U TTE R j URN L Q U NSL ND S Q A . t h e one I have described swept by, leaving but a transient record of disaster . A fter an interval , the Peak Downs district was d ff fﬁ entrusted to the care of a very i erent o cer , who was appointed to all the ofﬁ ces that had been held

fﬁ . n by Gri n , viz , Captain F . He ry Lambert , who 1 9th had been senior captain in the Regiment , a brave soldier in whose pleasant society my friends l f an . W o a n and I passed many evening When , at g, we saw him approaching on the plain , followed by

Of Brown , his orderly , and a mob kangaroo dogs , we always hailed his advent with pleasure . He was full

n u of wit and a ecdote , and tho gh he had led a some

h e t what stormy life , was apparen ly content to become Police Magistrate of Clermont , where he — died respected by the wh ole district a great con trast between his career and that of his predecessor . During this period the Peak Downs copper smelting

f o r mid works made rapid advances , and presented a able appearance with dozens of furnaces , stacks of chimneys , and rows of huts for the miners , who were in most cases Cornishmen imported from

England . William Woodhouse , brother of a former general manager of the Bank of New South Wales , was the superintendent , and he was ably assisted by

Ch r ist o e Captain Dennis as mining captain , and as smelter . I was always glad to vary my pastoral experiences by a visit to my friend Woodhouse , who would take me underground to view the resources of his copper mine , from which some wonderful speci

1 8 6

L A E E TE jO U R N A OF Q U NSLAND SQ UA T R . Under these curious trees we used to pull up in m old days and have many an impro ptu luncheon , after gladdening our eyes on the vista of open downs

’ stretching for miles towards Scott and Roper s Peaks , c which be ame here visible for the ﬁrst time , and were not unlike the Egyptian pyramids In these days no end of shanties lined this k fﬁ Roc hampton road , especially during its high tra c , and there the weary traveller or teamste r could obtain T an unlicensed glass of grog . hese shanties were , of course , exceedingly rough ; we therefore hailed as a great boon the erection of any decent accommoda

t A r o o s h tion house on that ownless road . p p of t is , I must relat e a circumstance in connection with the

e a ﬂe ct e d Peak Downs road that gr atly me , and is clearly imprinted on my memory .

One day , returning from one of the many trips I h a d a to make to Rockhampton on st tion business , I A ﬁrst met , near pis Creek , the man who then called himself James Christie ; he was riding a very ﬁne brown horse , and was crossing the road before me , making towards a camp that had a tent with a lot of A timber stacked about it . s the man was a stranger

’ I ca u gh t h im up and entered int o conversation with ff him , and he proved , though shy , a able and fairly

’ o ff communicative , asking me to get my horse and

” have a cup of tea with his old woman , who turned out to be a pretty little person , though silent and demure . Having asked him if he would sell the

' brown horse , he referred me to his wife as the

1 88 L ’L E E E N E A Y A SOM E A W S S D DS I RL D YS.

owner , when she at once said nothing would induce

her to sell him . I little knew then the romance of the road that was attached to that gallant brown m horse . Christie then told me he had co e overland

a from Victoria , and that in comp ny with a good f mate , who was then out splitting stuf , he intended

- w to put up a public house where we ere , as he

thought it a good stand , with which I quite agreed . m I gave him every encouragement , and pro ised him

he would get his license if the house was a good one . I made up my mind to stop there on my next trip A down from Peak Downs (in ustralia , especially

d o wn u Queensland , it is to town , and not p ), which

I did , camping there some time after with some

- fellow travellers and many horses for two nights , when we were well taken care of by Christie and his

partner, whom we found very decent fellows , the accommodation being superior to anything on that w road , as the respective ives of Christie and his part ner thoroughly understood how to make travellers

n comfortable . O another occasion when camping ’ there , I remember giving into Christie s charge for the night a saddle - bag with a considerable sum in cheques a n d notes that I was about to pay into

the Rockhampton Bank , which he kept quite safe for me .

Within twelve months or so , however , of this start ’ A of Christie s at pis Creek , the news arrived on Peak Down s that his house had been visited by a large t body of native police from Rockhampton , and tha

1 8 9 o U R N AL OE A E E A A TTE j Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

n n Christie had bee arrested as Fra k Gardiner , the renowned New South Wales bushranger , whose dis appearance some time before (on his gang being at

u last broken p by the NS W . Police)had occasioned ’ e a nin days wonder . He was supposed to have

Off A shipped himself to South merica ; Gardiner , instead , had lain planted in some of his old moun tain h a unts (so well described in R obbery Under an d on the attraction aff orded by the gold

V " discovery in the icinity of Clermont , had started for those diggings overland with a cart , bringing with him Mrs . Brown , a prettywoman , who had linked

h im l ﬁ n e her fate with his , and taking with a so the brown horse , which was a stolen animal , and who could j ump anything and travel any journey . Amongst the many travellers from Peak Downs who had about this time passed Christie ’s was one

c ﬁ Ja obsohn by name , a storekeeper at Copper eld , where he held interests ; this man at once recognised

a s wh o Christie the bushranger Gardiner , had stuck him u p and robbed him on one of the go l d ﬁ el d s in

New South Wales . Jacobsohn held his tongue and went to Sydney , where he found that the ’ reward for Gardiner s capture still held good ; he then returned to Brisbane , where the Commissioner of Police made prompt and complete arrangements to have Gardiner seized by the Rockhampton police , f an arrest that was e ﬂe ct e d without the slightest resistance on the part of Gardiner or his mate

As m h im to the ate , there was nothing against , and

1 90

N L E E jO U R A OF A Q U NSLAND SQ UA TTE R . extenuating fact that his sentence was not a capital

one , but that of imprisonment for life , which was afterwards commuted to a release after nearly

twenty years of hard labour , when Gardiner was w shipped to California , here , it is understood , he

m « h a in o u se . died shortly after , shot in a g g brawl I did hear in Syd ney about this time that there wa s a strong feeling amongst a certain class that

a nd Gardiner should not be condemned to death , that had that been his sentence an attempt at

rescue would have been made . I give this rumour ,

however , as I heard it , and for what it is worth .

Whilst on this subject of bushranging there was ,

ma I y mention , some attempt at this class of law l t essness in Northern Queensland abou this time ,

- but it met with a short lived existence . A curious

in t wo incident occurred the case of bushrangers , who were pursued toward s the Mackenzie by two

a m mateurs from Rockhampton , one of the being

Mr . Paton , a merchant of Rockhampton , who on

coming up with the outlaw , covered him with his

t o w h revolver , commanding him thro up his ands ; ’ o ff in his nervousness , however , Paton s pistol went ,

and shot the bushranger dead . Paton , I heard , was

t co n tr etem s sorely troubled at his p , and handed over t o the Rockhampton hospital the reward he was

A wa s entitled to for this capture . noted case the sticking up a n d foul murder of a respectable and well - known gold buyer on his return from the

Crocodile Diggings to Rockhampton , near the banks

1 92 I E L A WL E S E E I N E A Y A Y SOL T S D DS RL D S.

f . o the Fitzroy , between Yaamba and Rockhampton t In his case the murderers were two youths , natives

i ’ N e w W a l e s of South , and respectably born , who

sca ﬂo l d expiated on the a crime that was , I under Th stood , unpremeditated . ese young men wore m n a asks , and o ly w nted the gold , but on the

i n V ctim recognising his assailants , and vowi g that

u he would show them p , they shot him , and dragged

t o n n his body some eighbouri g water , where it was f ound . A C H PT E R X I I I .

TO THE T A T AN D A SOU H FOR RES , B CK THE BY DOWNS .

AF TE R the work and respo n sibilities entailed by the development and subsequent sales of station property w d on the Peak Do ns , which I have escribed , I was ﬁ glad to seek a change south , and rst paid a visit to

t . Sydney , stopping here with my partner , Mr James

x Milson , who was an ious to discuss many matters of

W o l f a n interest in connection with g, which station was to absor b most of my energies for some years to h come . Out of much property w ich he had pos sessed on the north shore , Mr . Milson had preserved wh to himself a delightful home in th at locality , ere , in a bit of primeval eucalyptus forest you could hear the locust sing in full strength , and fancy yourself a hundred miles from Sydney , had not an openi n g of deep blue sky through the tall gums revealed the distant heads of Port Jackson . Sweet

t h e spot , full of attributes of peace and quiet , long may it retain its natural charms . There my rest was as complete as it was pleasant , and I felt a regret when business required me to face the crowded

1 94

R N AL OF A E E AN A TTE jO U Q U NSL D SQ U R .

representative of Imperial interests . Sir George U Bowen , whose classical career at the niversity had early ﬁtted him for his work in the

Ionian Islands , and afterwards for the Colonial

- Service , was then in the prime of life , good looking,

’ bo n h o mze full of , and gifted with remarkable con v e r sa t io n a l t talen s ; these advantages , together with the talents of his beautiful and graceful spouse , lent much charm to the social gatherings they had insti t u t e d at the new Government House , which were l amenities Brisbane had hitherto acked . In 1 8 60 his ﬁrst Parliament had met in the Ol d

wa s convict barracks in Queen Street , and it there , in the somewhat dim legislative chamber of that old building, that my ear ﬁrst caught the sounds of the graceful and pol ished periods of R obert Herbert in

f n answer to the harsher tones of Ratclif e Pri g . Over thirty years have passed since t hose d ays of Queens

’ land s youth , and whilst the latter luminary has

n passed away , leavi g kindly recollections of his legal life , the former is still vigorous and alert , and has

n t o ly just closed , as Sir Rober Herbert , a long career of Colonial and Imperial usefulness amid the congratulations of his many friends . Between the date of separation in 1 8 5 9 and the 18 66 d ﬁnancial crisis of , it is har ly too much to say that our new Colony had been enjoying somewhat extravagantly the ﬁrst and costly experiences of

A u independence . s mptuous Government House r was , of course , an early requi ement to replace

1 96 T H E TH A E O T SO U FOR R ST.

the temporary use the Governor had made of Dr . ’ Hobbs old house ; then came the erection of the

palatial Parliament Houses , inclined , from their

o ccu height and size , to elevate the minds of their

pants . Railways were undertaken , destined some

what largely to enrich European contractors , whilst a fortunate sea captain found a good fortune in

’ ” dredging the shoal waters of Francis Ch annel ; 1 6 0 . furthermore , early loans at to per cent remained for some time a proof of the san guine T hopes of the reasurer of that day .

However , there was a good deal , I must say , in favour of such hopes ; gold had been discovered in many portions of the Colony ; other metals , b furthermore , were found which pointed to possi ly inexhaustible mineral resources ; and the treasures of the soil , whether by cultivation on the Darling

- w Downs , sugar gro ing at Mackay , or pastoral settle m ent in the Western Plains , seemed to promise bound A less scope for a growing population . great deal of real pro ﬁt was being earned in the leading industry of the country at the time by those whose pastoral properties in Southern Q u eensland were within fair carriage of port ; there was a growing demand for breeding stock to go north and west , whilst other sheep required for mutton continued to command a good price for ove r land supply to the Victorian

. r markets Wool of no g eat quality , and sometimes f w indif erently ashed , fetched two shillings a pound

r w delive ed at Ips ich , which black soil township

1 9 7 O U R N AL A E E A A T E j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U T R . obtained considerable commercial activity in those days both as the terminus of the Brisbane river navigation and the starting point of our southern railway system to the Darlin g Downs . These were also the palmy days of that excellent little haven of rest the Ipswich Club , where the jolly and prosperous Darl ing Downs squatters of that day

t o used foregather , and it was a lucky stroke for a baked - u p northerner if he had managed to secure a room at the Ipswich Club for the gaieties attendant on the June meeting of the North Australian Jockey l C ub . He would be sure there to meet the cream of squatting Queensland , and amongst them often a

bo n vio a n t noted and sporting judge , also a still more

- - u sporting attorney general , whose set p appearance and well - groomed hack would have done credit to

N ewmarket . “ ” Fred was the club caterer , and furnished m re arkable dinners , notably pigeon pies , that fell ’ genera lly to t h e Ju dge s gastron omic nod . Fellows I rode down from Drayton to pswich , seventy miles , with little trouble in a day , for the hacks then were good and a change generally procurable at such

n hospitable stations on the road as Helidon , Gatto , ’ O G r a d or G rantham . Heavy weights like William y H “ A aly on his chestnut , Wellington , rnold Wien “ ” - n holt on his weight carryi g brown Bolivar , or “ William Kent on his Can non Ball (men who would all have ﬁgured as Paladins ” in the days of the Crusad es) were content t o d o n silk and match

1 98

TO THE TH A E SO U FOR R ST. themselves and their favourites ﬁfteen stone up

- for a three mile race on the Limestone Racecourse , amidst the hearty cheers of their old chums and

n eighbours , and often also that of their shearers and employé s down for a spree to the Ipswich

races , whilst lighter weights , like Carden Collins ,

' co n o scen t delighted the g z with admirable jockeyship . There were even then some ﬁne studs in Queens

land , which was ceasing to depend upon the Clarence

Th e for her blood stock . Bells and the Bigges , the

Ha l s y and Dr . Simpson , imported sires and formed studs the excellence of which can be traced to this day ; gentlemen in those days raced more for the

pleasure than the proﬁt of the sport , chieﬂy riding

themselves when they could . If they returned to their comfortable stations on the Darling Downs or elsewhere after the Ipswich meeting without a n y great winnings from their wagers they had at any rate interviewed their agents and found

their station balances generally on the right side , for Queensland squatters had not yet arrived at the ﬁ days of great scienti c improvements , low returns T and labour unions . hose who had sold out , like

G a mmie s the and some others , had perhaps had

the best of Moreton Bay ; still the bulk remained , and they comprised such men as Arthur Ho d gsp n

of Eton Vale , Hope and Ramsay of Rosalie Plains ,

\Va t t s G l e n a l l a n Do u l a se s John , Deuchar of g , the g

T W ie n h o l t s of algai , Kent and the of Maryvale ,

G M cL e a n Fassifern and Jondaryan , Isaac of owrie ,

201 O U R N ' AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

and Beit of Westbrook , the Gores of Yandilla , Bells u of Jimbour , and others I co ld recount , who left names , families and fortunes linked with the early history of Queensland that leave little to be

in desired the way of reputation for industry , courage , honesty of purpose , and absolute good

n faith ; their word bei g their bond , their agreements seldom written , their servants well used , their

n a imals cared for , and their homesteads open to the most ungrudging hospitality , and what can a country desire more in the founders of her early history ?

Th e e younger school that have succeed d these , if things are not so rosy as they were , must only remember their predecessors and struggle on , trust ing to Providence , fair seasons , and that turn of the wheel which is always going round in Colonial history from good to bad and bad to good times in

r n T a l l almost certain otatio . hey must not , above , w shirk their political or municipal duties , or allo any socialistic or other combination to do them out of their legislative rights , which can all be attended to coupled with their sheep farming ; they should allow no tampering with the advantageous tenure of the ’ land for all classes . It strikes me that if you can t make out of squat ting in Australia the great returns

of bygone days , you can still eke out of it a happy

u and intelligent lot , surro nded with comforts and a dash of intellectual pursuit unknown in our old

days .

202

A E R C H PT X I V . A TRIP TO THE PAROO IN THE F AR

TH- SOU WEST.

AF TE R the sale of Gordon Downs , I became more

W o l f a n closely identiﬁed with the development of g, which we were able to work proﬁtably . We were anxious to keep our account at the bank as little overdrawn as possible , the charge for interest on overdrawn accounts being 10 per cent ; so not

ﬁnding a ready sale for our wethers on Peak Downs , we started a lot of young wethers overland

R ive r in a towards by the extreme western route , advising the Sydney agents to sell them , if possible , for delivery towards the Queensland border on the

Lower Paroo . ff Hearing such a sale was likely to be e ected , with delivery within a ﬁxed period wherever the sheep might be (they were then travelling down the Paroo , a river west of the Darling), I determined to start to

Sydney , and thence to work out west and deliver i Th fﬁ n . e them person di culty , however , was that

th e from the coast to the Darling in New Sou Wal s , 1 8 68 t had brought a real bad drough , and coach

204 A T I TO THE A R P P ROO .

travelling had been given up . However , I made up my mind to start west from Sydney with a light A merican buggy and a strong horse , and take with me as much feed as I could , trusting to eke it T out with fodder procurable at stopping places . his

I did , shipping from Sydney to Newcastle , and thence by rail to Muswellbrook , passing my old friend the township of Cassilis ; from there to

o Coolah , crossing the Castlereagh , and by C on b a r a br a n to Walgett , where I expected to hear of the sheep . Nothing could exceed the wretched state of the

u co ntry ; not a vestige of food was visible , and the only fodder available was either oaten hay , purchaseable at a very high ﬁgure , or reeds cut b y the blacks down the banks of watercourses .

Gaunt cattle seemed dying by inches , and starving

- horses stood at stock yard gates like Mr . Micawber ,

' ’ waiting for so me th in g t o turn up . I certainly

. A never saw a country look worse change was , however , at hand , for at my last stage before

g reachin Walgett rain came on , which obliged me to leave the buggy , as the wheels clogged in the black soil ; so I had to ride into Walgett on horse “ ’7 back . There I was h a il e d up three days by heavy rains that soon changed the aspect of the country , and relieved from destruction most of the

in stock that rich part of New South TVales . I heard here that my wethers would be at a certain stage on the Paroo by the t ime ﬁxed for

205 O U R N AL A E E N A A TTE j OF Q U SL ND SQ U R .

their delivery , and , as prices had been falling, was anxious not to miss being there on the appointed T day . aking the buggy further was out of the question , so I left it at Walgett , and , buying a t o . pack horse , started down the Barwon Bourke

Grass being still bare , and roads heavy and horses w eak , I knocked up several horses , and had to

. At buy fresh ones to keep to my time Bourke , which was even then a considerable and lively

me t w township , I two leading men ith whom here

— M r after I became well acquainted . Vincent Dow

n o w o ling, one of the f remost sheep breeders of W New South ales , whose property , Yantabulla , lay on my road to the Paroo , and Cecil Guinness , a

F u r l o n e m partner of Mr . W . g , of Be ery on the d Darling , a station I had passe above Bourke . These good me n put me in the way of getting

‘ f e I f - resh hors s , and as ound I had only forty eight hours left t o get to the c a mp where I expected 140 to meet the sheep , or about miles to travel in i that time , I felt keep ng my appointment depended m a good deal on y horses not knocking up . For ’ t u n a t el y they didn t, and I reached the camp of my travelling sheep on the day ﬁxed in the sale note .

My buyer , having taken another and badly watered route from Walgett , had killed a couple of horses thereby , at which he was very grumpy . He had

me n arrived before , and was hopi g I would not put in an appearance , when he could have claimed to be s ’ o ff . let his bargain It wa n t a pleasant delivery ,

206

R N AL A E E N A TE jO U OF Q U SL ND SQ UA T R .

At last , my horses having rapidly put on ﬂesh , I m ade a start , and as the cool season was on I made an excellent trip by the Culgoa u p the

W a r r ego to Charleville . We made excellent camps t every night and had plenty of rations , the cus omary habit on the cattle runs we traversed being to leave a fat hindquarter of beef hanging iii the store

r o bo n o a bl ico verandah p p , so we had a good

a r r e recollection of W go beef. We passed Claverton

Downs , where I renewed my acquaintance with

As Mr . Messrs . Geary and Francis Bigge . and

r s . t o M . Geary and Mr and Mrs . Bigge were going

e the Charlevill races we agreed to travel together , and we had a j olly camp or two under somewhat At unusual comfort and society . Charleville I made the acquaintance of several of the neighbouring

Th e squatters , who seemed a good sort . races called for no particular comment , the principal events falling to the share of a c o mmon - looking f ” little horse called White oot , which (as was often the case in those days at outside meetings) was s aid to have been a winner down below in another n ame .

208 N ON CL AVE R TON DO\VN S R U .

O R N A L A E E A A T E j U OF Q U NSL ND SQ U T R .

I certainly thought the condition of the horses , mostly trained without corn and fed enti r ely on the

n o w grasses of the country , quite wonderful . I was f o r the ﬁrst time initiated in the great sustaining powers which the grass of the western prairies of

Q ueensland can impart to stock , whether it is to f atten the beast for the road to market , to train t h e racehorse , or sustain the roadster on a j ourney T requiring the greatest endurance . hese grand plains of the Barcoo here became imprinted in my mind as something b etter even than I had t hought the Peak Downs to be , though the Barcoo , w hich stretched out on a far wider scale , certainly l acked the picturesqueness of the smaller district . I hope to touch in the latter part of my story on the development of the Mitchell and Gregory dis

t r ict s in which I became largely interested , and the

th e former of which , pastoral district par excellence

n of Queensla d , I was proud to represent in the 1 1 Queensland P arliament of 8 8 . Leaving Tambo in the delicious winter o f these

western plains , ﬁlled with the comfort of new friend sh ips and the open hospitality I had received on ’ the Barcoo , I had four days not unpleasant jour n eyin g over the rough country dividing the table

land of the Barcoo from the Comet country ,

Of arriving at Springsure , the chief township the

t o Comet or Leichardt District , in time partake of the annual festivities of the Pastoral Show and Race Meeting to f ollow ; no mean bill of fare in

212 TO TH E B A C AN D H M E R OO O .

those days , when the glory of the Comet District was at its height . 1 8 67 m In that district was char ing , and although the downs and plains of the Comet country lacked the peaks that ornamented our landscape of Peak

Downs , still the ﬁne black soil plains , covered with blue grass and timbered with clumps of drooping

S P R I N G S U R E M OU N TAI N .

l e mayall , recalled to the sett er the asp ct of Liverpool

Plains , and gave every conﬁdence of success to

pastoral investment . Springsure township was particularly well situated

at the foot of a bold mass of rock , which for many mil es f ormed a landmark to the approaching

t wh o raveller , could make sure of replenishing his ’ packs at I l in t o n s stores and comforting the inner

213 TE jO U R N AL OF A Q UE E NSL AN D SQ UA T R .

in n man at the adjoining . From the rocks issued springs that ran the creeks for many years after 1 8 64 the wet season of , watering the stations lower

Ca r d be i n down , such as Rainworth and g , and enabling their owners to carry out their lambing operations with success . Th e squatters of that dist rict were a rare good lot o f pioneers , and could boast in those days of Jesse

Al bin ia Gregson of Rainworth , Patton of Downs ,

' T fﬁ o f hompson of Orion Downs , Nevile Gri ths

a Ca r d be i n Nardoo , little Buchan n of g (who could

ﬁ t h e carry in his head the nances of Colony),

William Kelman of Meteor Downs , Paul of Glen d a r r iwil l M h , acintos , and , last but not least , Charles

S . Dicken , ever youthful and popular , who had left

h . . t e . sword for the pen , and guided as C P S at Springsure as popular a lot of magistrates as ever sat on a Queensland Bench . In the hands of these and many others the Spring

a sure Pastoral Society was great success , and its S how became the forerunner of other similar in stit u tions throughout the country . It was attended by visitors from Rockhampton and other parts , and the

Sprin gsure publicans reaped a golden harvest . Ex

c e l l e n t races followed the show , several studs in the ’ Kel ma n s B neighbourhood , such as noted Y breed

S . N . W from the Busbys of Cassilis , , descendants of “ ” “ “ ” oe old Gratis , Cheddar , and Cor bus , furnish

ing many a winner to the local and other races .

They could boast of good horsemen too , and the

214

O A OE A E E A S UA TTE j URN L Q U NSL ND Q R .

men and true , succumbed to the weight of compound M interest and fall in produce . any , however , are

pursuing distinguished careers in other spheres , and f have shown the stuf they are made of. In this category it is not invidious to mention Jesse Gregson

A A a of the ustralian gricultur l Company , and Charles

S . Dicken , the popular secretary to , and so

A - often acting for , the gent General of Queensland . T hese and many others will , I feel certain , never regret the old Springsure days , when under the balmy blue skies they smoked the sweet pipe o f adventure and good fellowship . After this j oll y we ek in Springsure I was not sorry to cr oss the No go a and make home to W o l f a n g with l my brother , who had done very wel at the Spring “ f ” “ ” “ ” sure races with Dart ord , Bosco , Nimrod , and other good nags . I must say here that my brother and I f ound time to train a few horses in a quiet way and were fairly fortunat e ; he won the

Brisbane Cup with Sydney , whilst I was fortunate to breed in “ Sunrise ” the winner of another Bris bane Cup , and our j oint success with the black

” i oe Cass lis , the son of Cor bus (an imported son

- of was considerable , for at weight for

o f age he was quite the champion our district, and handicaps were not so much in fashion then as “ ” they are now Cassilis was a genuine stayer, and we eventually sold him to John Tait of New “ ” South Wales , the owner of the Barb . I returned to Peak Downs all the better f o r my

216 A AN D H E TO TH E B R C OO OM .

four months ’ trip th rough that great stretch of pastoral Australia from the Hunter to the Paroo

and Bourke to the Peak Downs , a journey that had opened my eyes to the great resources of New

South Wales and Q u eensland as pastoral colonies . Th e vast fattening frontage of the W a r r e go and the

rich plains of the Barcoo , followed by the downs of m the Comet and Peak Downs , had ﬁlled y mind with

the coming future of our Colony , the fulﬁlment of

which has been steady and continual , much of it at

the hands of experienced southerners , whether Vic

t Or ia n s or New South Welshmen . A great part of the W a r r ego was even then owned ’ A mil l io n a ir e t h e by our ustralian bachelor , somewhat T austere James yson , but I never heard in those parts that he did much either for the improvement of the stock or the development of the vast tracts he

held , a fact one could not help contrasting with the

improvement of adjoining country like Lansdowne , which the capital and energy of the Fairbairns under the management o f Meredith had turned from a waterless grassy waste that would barely carry ﬁ ve and - twenty thousand sheep in the sixties into a grand run that was not overstocked with a quarter of a million of sheep in the seventies . Fencing and water conservation by huge dams (artesian water had not then been discovered) were the order of nd the day , and this meant thousands of pou s trustingly invested on leasehold security by enter prising men . I recollect riding through a paddock

21 7 O R N AL A E E N j U OF Q U SLAND SQUA TTE R . at Lansdowne in the seventies that carried wethers . At this time ( 18 69 ) it became necessary that better security should be afforded to the pastoral interest , which was obviously staggering under the 1 8 66 ﬁnancial pressure of , and to encompass this m end , Clermont and Copperﬁeld having so e time before been formed into an electoral district and

the seat of its representative , the gifted Robert

T A e ravers tkin , having been declar d vacant after a brief session , I was urged by my squatting friends to put up for the seat in order to assist in

Act 1 8 69 passing the Pastoral Leases of , which the Lilley Government then in power had pro je ct e d for the relief and support of our predominant interest . I must confess to a good deal of doubt and d ifﬁ dence at this start into a political career at the time , but as the chosen candidate of a lot of warm friends and good neighbours I ended in waiving all draw w backs , and embarked into a hot contest ith the

P ea k D o wn s proprietor of the local newspaper , the

T l e r t t e a m . B u z a co g , Mr Charles Hardie , who might in those days be called an anti - squatter and a d va n e d T B u z a co tt c b . a Li eral hat Charles H . was foeman worthy of anyone ’s steel his career in and out of P arliament and in the wider ﬁeld of the metropolis of Q u eensland has amply proved . We hit out in those d ays and worked hard to collect the scattered votes , but having the support of the

21 8

C H APT E R X V I . INITIATION o r RESPONSIB L E GOVERNMENT

I A - N U 1 8 60 69 . Q EENSL ND ,

I MAY here state with beneﬁt to the readers o f this

S I R G E OR GE AN D L ADY B OW E N . volume the political growth of Queensland between 1 8 60 the opening of its ﬁrst Parliament in May, , and 18 69 the period , when I became able to speak from

220 E I B E E E I NI TI A TI ON OF R SPONS L GO V RNM NT. personal knowledge of Queensland pa r liamentary life .

r t u Sir George Bowen , the ﬁ s Governor of Q eens

h a d in 1 8 5 9 land , landed Brisbane in December, and had been accompanied by Mr . Robert George ’ Ca r n a r vo n s Wyndham Herbert , a cousin of Lord , whose brilliant University career and secretarial training had pointed him out as one of the rising men of the day . Mr . Herbert became the ﬁrst Premier of Queensland under responsible govern ment , and had at the start as his colleagues in the ff Executive Council of the Colony Messrs . Ratcli e

Pring and Robert Ramsay Mackenzie . Th e ﬁrst Legislative Council had made its start P with Sir Charles Nicholson as resident ; he was ,

f ew however , succeeded within a months by Mr . ’ u M O o n n e l l Th C . e Ma rice , afterwards Sir aurice , Council consisted of

’ M e O Co n n el l n B auric , Joh alfour,

F r n is E d rd B i e , Al fred W illi m Co m i n e a c wa gg a p g , e e t n e r F ll r , h n mes ll G o g u o Jo Ja Ga oway, me L d e n M cDo u a l l Ja s ai l y, Joh g , R t M Wm H n Y b . e e e win . e a l d o G org assi , ry Hen B t e F i t z e e H ry a s , G org arris , a n d S t e en S m n ph i pso .

Th e ﬁrst Electorates of the Colony which returned 26 members to the Legislative Assembly were ﬁlled A 1 8 60 as follows at the elections of pril ,

B isb n e 3 me mbers e e R ff He n r rd n r a G org a , y Jo a , C e W m B a e n e . harl s . l k y S t B b n e l l e n r R d ou h ris a y ichar s . F t t d e e C a e L e or i u Vall y h rl s ill y. A E A U E E N L AN D S A TT jO URN L O Q S Q U E R .

T n I wi 3 memb e A t M t e P c . ow of ps ch rs r hur a alis r, ’ O S u l l i a n n d E v a G . . ,

F orbe s . n n d T mb W m H n r r m Drayt o a oowoo a illia e y G oo . W S t e R e e . arwick . G org . Gor E ast M oret o n G e orge E d mo n st o n e a n d He n B e ry uckl y. G A W e t M e t n e e T r n S e a n . D. s or o org ho , ,

B n W . N e n t L . . rough o , lso D n l i n E ast ern ow s R a t c ﬁ e Pri g. W t er n D n T d e L M tt a n d e s ow s . acy offa T Jame s aylor . n D n x N ort h e r ow s Charl e s Co e n . n n e M a r a o a Joh F e rr t t . B urn e t t R ob e rt R amsay M ack e n z i e R a n H . d C . . aly b e t E t Gil r llio . e F i z imm n Charl s t s o s . R H a n d W . e b e t . G . r r C m R d harl es Ja e s oy s .

Gilbert Elliot was unanimously elected Speaker , M l and aca ister Chairman of Committees . Writing some forty years after these early days it is curious to reﬂect what little growth Central and

Northern Queensland had so far made , Central Queensl and in a House of 26 being represented only by the three members for Port Curtis and the

a b so Leichardt , and Northern Queensland being l u t el y not represented in the ﬁrst P arliament of the

Colony . Th e Assembly of Queensland S i nce 1 8 98 7 2 has members , a fair proportion of whom on the population basis represent Central and Northern

Queensland electorates . ’ Th e ﬁrst Governor s ﬁrst speech was long and elaborate . It embraced , as in duty bound , the pressing needs of the best education for the rising

222

O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF QU NSL ND SQU R . cia l l N y in Central , Western , and orthern Queens land . Telegraphs h a d been started and the ﬁrst

Queensland Exhibition opened . A Show of the ﬁrst Horticultural and Agricultural Society took place in

a Brisbane , and new Government House , built at a cost of had been occupied by Sir George

Bowen and his family . 1 8 63 was a droughty year throughout the Colony , the break -u p of t h e d rought at the end of that year and commencement of the following one being marked with the severest ﬂoods the Colony had T l up to that time known . his great rainfal , which m extended to outside districts , isled settlers in many instances as to the rainf all of the country they had

n settled I . 5 18 64 February 2 , , saw the important function of turning the sod of the ﬁrst Queensland railway ,

o f performed at Ipswich , the battle the gauges P having , after a long and instructive arliamentary 3 f t f . 6 ﬁght , been settled in avour of the in . gauge , a gauge which I ma y here mention has fulﬁlled a l l

a flb r d s . that was required of it , and a smooth if not f very rapid conveyance for the tra fic required o f it . Th e first railway f ro m Ipswich to the plateau of the m Darling Downs cost over a ile , and was ’ n desti ed to be Queensland s costliest railway , as the engineering d ifli cu l tie s o f th e m a in range were con i l co n s d e r a b e . v Once o er the Coast Range , later structions ‘ have pr oved that Queensland can build

- her l ines for one fourth of the above cost , in fact less

224 I I TI A TI E I B E G VE E N ON OF R SPONS L O RNM NT.

than was paid , by the Colony in its early days for corduroy roads for its wheeled trafﬁ c over the once f w in amous road between Ips ich and Toowoomba . It is not too much to say that the future of Queensland ,

r u a in common with that of olde co ntries , rests gre tly on its future policy of cheap and light railways wherever these can be conscientiously given to a

struggling community . Queensland , as I write , has

a railway bill of over sixteen millions , but has nearly

miles of railway to show for it , a record which none of the other colonies can approach in the shape

of value for capital expended . ’ 1 8 64 H r b er t s Min i . e st r In Mr . y was composed

’ Of l T m himse f as Colonial Secretary , ho as de Lacy

’ M o ﬂa tt s T A a Colonial reasurer , rthur Macalister as t n R f Minis er of Public Works and La ds , and atclif e

A - Pring as ttorney General . f 1 8 64 De Lacy Mof att died in October, , and was

- in - e . succeeded by his brother law , J . P . B ll

As Minister. for Public Works Macalist er had ’ t h e in it ia tio n the hardest work , of railways alone h requiring great forethought , besides w ich the de

vel o me n t r e a t c o l o n n p of a g w y is somethi g like that “ ” of station impro vements which are constantly

required , and no new member of the legislature was held worth his salt by his constituents who did not try t o ge t a dam m a de or well sunk on some water

a - less road , to s y nothing of a jail and court house

n for every openi g township . I may here me ntion that the following members

l 25 O A OE A UE E N S L A N D S U A TTE R j URN L Q Q . had been added to the roll of the Legislative Council since its creation three years back : John B r a mst o n

A - (afterwards ttorney General for Queensland , then A U n for Hong Kong , and lastly ssistant der Secretary

B r a mst o n for the Colonies in London , now Sir John ,

B . E C . . . . . R . , I C Browne , St George

Gore , Hon . Louis Hope , William Landsborough (the

M cCo n n el explorer), John , Francis North , Richard

J . Smith , John Watts , Wm . D . White , and Western

Wood , some of these representing a few resignations , 21 the Council totalling in all at that time . An d the following new members of the Assembly had taken

: P . the place of retiring members Joshua Bell ,

Henry Challinor , Benjamin and Robert Cribb , John

M cL e a n Douglas , John Edwards , John Donald , A T . . B Pugh , Gordon Sandeman , and rnold Wien ’ holt , names that included some of Queensland s fore most colonists and a welcome infusion of squatting blood .

Th e Viceregal speech , read with emphasis by Sir

George Bowen , alluded to the construction of the

t ﬁrst railway from Ipswich , and promised hat from

To Rockhampton , and Sir George was further able congratulate my Parliament for the ﬁfth time on the rapid but solid progress of Queensland which has been now addressed to you in opening the ann u al sessions

O u l a of four successive years , also to say that the p p m tion has doubled in two years and eight onths , and the revenue and trade and other chief elements of prosperity have increased in equal ratio with our

226

R N AL F A E E A A TTE jO U O Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

Th e other elements of prosperity have advanced in

similar proportions , that is to say , they have been n early trebled . It will be for you to consolidate the

o f many blessings which , under the favour Divine

” e Providence , Qu ensland already enjoys . 1 8 66 In the following year , , Queensland lost the

services of Mr . Robert Herbert , her ﬁrst Premier , who returned to England after six years of eventful tenure of ofﬁ ce ; he had set the Parliamentary m t h e achine of Colony going , and that on safe

and digniﬁed lines , and had every reason to con gratulate himself on his share of the remarkable result sketched by his chief in the foregoing state ment . I am glad to say that after many years in d u str 1o u sl y spent as the working head of an f enormously increasing Colonial Of ice , he continues , as Sir Robert Herbert , to retain his interest in the great Colony , the Parliamentary fortunes of which he ﬁrst directed . A Mr . Herbert was succeeded by rthur Macalister P as remier and Minister for Lands , the other posi tions in the Ministry being occupied by Robert

Ramsay Mackenzie , Charles Lilley , Joshua Bell, and M John Douglas . acalister had assisted Herbert in

former Ministries , and as a leading Ipswich solicitor had great local knowledge and attractions he might

be called a useful if not eminent Parliamentarian ,

- with shrewd business like qualities , but he could hardly be compared in administrative capacity with

either his predecessor Herbert , or his successors ,

228 I NI TI A TI ON OF RE SPON ' SI B LE GO VE R N M E N T

l Lilley and Palmer . Still he deserved we l of his ’ country , and virtually ended his days as the Colony s

representa tive in London .

Robert Mackenzie , afterwards Sir Robert Mac

kenzie of Coul , was a man of high type , and safe

1\I R B T W H B . R O E R C . . E R E R T

F t P e m e e e n l n d ( irs r i r of Q u s a . ) and honourable in his representation of the “ pure ” merino of those days . Joshua Bell of Jimbour was a great favourite with everybody, public and private .

Handsome and prosperous , he was our champion re presentative of Queensland growth ; he never made

229 L E E jO UR N A OF A Q U NSLAND SQ UA TTE R .

" an enemy , but , alas died in the prime of life ,

President of the Legislative Council of Queensland , a s a Sir Joshua Bell , Fortun tely his eldest son is imbued with proper political ambition , and so far is treading in his father ’s footsteps in the Colony o f h his birt , and one can only wish that there were m ore with the same ambition . 18 66 saw the advent in the Queensland Parl iament o f the gifted and high - minded William Henry Walsh t o as member for Maryborough , who was destined take a place in a good many Ministries and ﬁll the ’ Speaker s Chair with great credit for some years . Th e Ministerial speech of the Session of 18 66 that s a w t h e M foregoing inistry in power , congratulated the Colony on both the northern and southern r ailways having been pushed forward . It alluded to the stream of continental immigration , and stated the protracted drought to have been the main cause o f the temporary depression (which it was not , as it l m rea ly arose fro the ﬁnancial panic in London), and it wound u p with the satisfactory statement That the revenue of 1 8 65 had exceeded that of 1 8 64by 5 2 . per cent , and that during the six years since the establishment of the Colony the European population f had increased ourfold , whilst our revenue and trade a had been more than trebled , and p storal settlement had been extended over an area at least four times

” larger than the area of the United Kingdom . T his year saw some labour riots at Brisbane , which

indicated the coming ﬁnancial depression .

23 0

O U R N A L A E E AN A TTE j OF Q U NSL D SQ U R.

n growing and fatteni g pastures of the great west , or T the mineral holdings of Gympie , Charters owers ,

Ch il l a o e g and Croydon , or the Cloncurry, Queens ’ a land s reputation is now thoroughly est blished , and the requirements for every description of settlement m are being fully e t . Th e railway to Toowoomba was this session

t r a ﬂic announced as open to , and notice was given T of contracts for further extension . his was an immense relief and comfort to travellers inland f rom

Brisbane , as the road from Ipswich to the foot of “ the main range had long been a slough o f o ” desp nd , and had become , where not corduroyed

after wet seasons , an almost impassable morass .

From the foot of the main range there were - about

o f T i ten miles an ascent to oowoomba , cover ng a

f t n gradual height of some . , the e gineering

s being clever and picturesque , the winding of a

certain gap being followed which brings the line ,

backwards and forwards almost over its own steps ,

thus gaining the summit almost imperceptibly . From the top a grand panorama towards the east is

O m btained over the country traversed , chieﬂy so bre f s orest of the eucalyptus type , with crags and knoll that were once the fastnesses of the ﬁghting abori

in a l g tribes of the early Darling Downs days , one peak being pointed out as having been held by natives who checked the approach of their aggressors by rolling huge pieces of rock upon them . Whether the engineering of this line was the most saving in

23 2

O U R N A L OF A A TTE j Q UEENSLAND SQ U R .

1 8 67 ment ioned the promised visit of the Duke of A Edinburgh , then Prince lfred , and dwelt on the

i proposed enlargement o f the settled districts with a selection of 40 to 640 acres of land to be leased

f r 2 d . o s . 6 eight years at , which should form the

- ff purchase money , the land under o er to comprise

n M most of the Darli g Downs , East and West oreton , “ the district of Wide Bay , and all lands within

” reasonable distance of navigable rivers . It alluded to the readjustment of electorates and fresh laws for the registration o f electors and the conduct of

Th e 1 elections . end of 8 67 brought with it the departure of Governor Bowen , who had been trans Z ferred to the Government of New ealand , which 21 1 8 67 he was to assume on December , , and his departure was made the occasion of reciprocal addresses between the Legislature and himself that testiﬁed to the friendly nature of the bonds that had existed between Queensland and her ﬁrst Governor . ’ As m s ight be expected , Sir George Bowen farewell m m essage wa s happily put . It told Parlia ent that

“ ' he h a d e a r n e stl y laboured throughout the eight years of his ad ministration to perform his duty to the best of his j udgment and ability ; he would here after continue to regard with proud and grateful interest the progre ss of - this Colony where he and his family had received so much sympathy and respect , and with the history of which his name as that of its ﬁrst Governor must remain for ever connected . A graceful reply was sent from both

23 6 [ AU TJA TI ON P O I B G O V M OF RES NS LE ERN ENT.

u branches of the Legislat re , which voted a sum of money to be spent in procuring a good portrait of the retiring Governor .

Th e 1 8 68 wa s sitting in March , , renewed in

’ Au M O Co n n el l gust of same year , Sir aurice acting as Governor ; the occasion was made interesting by both Houses meeting for the ﬁrst time in the n e w

Houses of Parliament , which had been erected ’ nominally for Sir Maurice O Co n n e l l stating that “ he had pleasure in meeting you for the ﬁrst time in this noble building , which the mu n iﬁ cen ce of a former Parliament has pro

” vid e d as the future Palace of the Legislature . Al lusion was made to the attempted assassination ’ of Prince Alfred by O F a r r el l on 1 2th March in one of the little bays of Sydney Harbour , Clontarf, soon after his return from Queensland , where the previous month he had laid the foundation sto n e of the Brisbane Grammar School . I U was in Sydney , stopping at the nion Club , I at the time of this attempt , and well do remember the horror it created . It was at ﬁrst thought the wound was mortal , and it was reported as such . Th e Prince was brought to Government House from Clontarf, and the public were soon relieved

by an examination , which proved the bullet to have glanced round the ribs without penetrating

the vital parts . It was a period of intense excite

’ a s c ment , and all the Prin e s shipmates were going

in and out of the Club eager for news , the reaction ,

23 7 O U R N AL A TTE j OF A Q UEENSLAND SQ U R .

t when word was brought hat there was no danger , ' w was tremendous , and a good many healths ere drunk to the complete recovery of the genial Prince .

“ Th e Viceregal speech spoke of a million acres of t h e choicest portion of the Darling Downs being thrown open for agriculture and acres in

a n d M East West oreton , and an allusion was made

’ ﬁ s I to the dif culties of accurate urvey . Now must say I always thought the Survey Department of A Queensland under its old heads , ugustus Gregory T l l A . W . and u ly , a very wonderfu and accurate

—~ m a . depart ent marvel , in fact , of administration d Considering its vast dealings , with the rawbacks f of drought and lood , scrub and plain , and all the incidents of such a widespread country , there were m wonderfully few mistakes ade , and no corruption was ever even tried .

' I n A o f ugust , on the arrival Governor Blackall , Parliament was prorogued preparatory to a dissolu

n tio , in consequence of the defeat of the Mackenzie A b Ministry on the ddress , y a majority of two in a

- Th e House of twenty seven members . downfall of the Squatting Ministry was followed by the following Liberal administration on 25 t h November

L e m A t - n e Charl e s ill y P r e ie r a n d t orn ey Ge ral .

T B . S t e e n n S e et r . ph s Colo ial cr a y. H F t z d T r r T. e C n e e . . i g ral olo ial r asu d n W A M t e S e t L n a d . . acalis r cre ary for a s orks

- John Dou glas Post mast e r Gen e ral . Parliament met for its second session in that year

l n m 1 8 68 A late Nove ber , , the session lasting till pril ,

23 8

C H APT E R X V I I .

A P A AM TA QUEENSL ND RLI EN RY LIFE .

APR I L 1 869 e , , saw me , as b fore mentioned , in Bris

L . . t M . A bane aking my seat as for Clermont , and I must conf ess that after the ups and downs of a bush life , which have formed the preceding chapters A of my sunny ustralian career , it was pleasant to be a representative of the people for the part of the great Colony that one had assisted in settling , all the more so as the Council and Assembly were composed of a lot of str aight old colonists who gave I character to those institutions , which hardly need say we r e formed strictly on the model of the English

Th e Parliament . natural surroundings were charm ing , the Houses of Parliament were even then (they have been added to since) noble buildings , rather beyond the wants of the country than otherwise , though they were not so after subsequent additions A to the roll of the ssembly had been made .

Th e b e Speaker , old Gilbert Elliot , was a nign and ﬁne old gentleman , courteous to all members ; A his Clerk of the ssembly , Louis Bernays , I who am glad to say is still to the fore , was the

240 E E zV L AN D P M Y I E Q U S ARLIA ENTAR L F .

friendly adviser of all n e w members and the trusty conﬁdant of most of the old ones who wanted to

seczmd u m a r tem mature , , a Bill for the good of the t Colony at large , or pass a measure of relief for heir

Th e own co n st it u t e n t s . Parliamentary Library was

also an attractive feature , with a librarian (Mr . t Donovan , whose indus ry and attention is

beyond praise . In fact , ensconced in one of the many comfortable armchairs to be found there , and ’ given a bright Queensland winter s day , with a look - out on the glorious vista of the Botanical Gardens below you and the chosen literature of the old world within your reach , a Queensland member of P arliament had much to be thankful for , and I think could have done very well without £ 3 0 I the 0 a year which , am told , is his solatium

n o w.

Th e Legislative Council was presided over by that ’ e O Co n n el l distinguished old soldi r , Sir Maurice , who had won his spurs in the Carlist wars and wore the grand cordons of the orders of Ferdinand and

Isabella and Charles III . of Spain with the grace and dignity of a Spanish hidalgo -a good type of colonist was Sir Maurice , handsome , courteous and suave . Th e Ministry at the opening of the session of 1 8 69 wa s w wa s a coalition one , of hich Charles Lilley the

A - A Premier and ttorney General , rthur Hodgson

M cAl ist e r Colonial Secretary , Secretary for Public ’ ' k \Vo r s T r T. . , James aylor Ministe for Lands , B

241 O U R N A L A TTE j OF A Q UEENSLAND SQ U R.

n T Stephens , Colo ial reasurer , and John Douglas

- Postmaster General .

Th e m chief provisions of the ministerial program e ,

as set forth in the speech from the throne , which

I in exten so will however not quote , were A A dditional Representation , mendment and Con solidation of Laws relating to the Occupation of Crown Lands (virtually the great “ Pastoral Leases “ Act 1 8 69 of Polynesian labour , demanding a

e Th e det rmined solution of the question . cotton b onus came next , and it was singular that in the attempt to establish it the speech stated “ That by our liberality it had established that article on the

list of exports , thus providing an almost unlimited

ﬁeld for the extension of agricultural enterprise . Later on it became evident that the production of cotton in Queensland diminished in the same ratio a as the bounty , and when that was withdr wn altogether the production of cotton ingloriously — ceased so much for bounties and bonus . It is well to recall here the extreme ﬁnancial

we ff n pressure su ered from at that time , quoti g the ’ v Go ernor s speech , which went on to say , and it “ was not badly put , that In common with the most wealthy countries in the world we have 1 8 66 endured , since , a severe and discouraging

Th e ﬁ f depression in trade and commerce . sacri ces o these past years , however , have not been made in t vain , we regret great priva e losses by our citizens ,

”

ff . much public inconvenience , and great su ering

242

O U R N AL A TTE j OF A Q UEENSLAND SQ U R . schedule of the same was laid before both Houses of P arliament and was not dissent ed from by same for

sixty days . I well remember the ﬁght over this , as it seemed to us then , iniquitous clause , and the bitter feeling these long nights ’ debates engendered between

P A - astoralists and nti Pastoralists , but the coalition

wa s ministry too strong , and , half a loaf being better than no bread , the measure was ﬁnally accepted .

I must say here that in after days , during the c Act urrency of this , I can recollect no instance in which the obnoxious clause was used to the detriment of any lessee . This Act of 1 8 69 gave a feeling of security to the P astoralists , and when things began to mend in the

a early seventies , many ﬁne property changed hands at high ﬁgures on the strength of the tenure that a few years before had not been deemed good enough for the then impoverished Squatter . Th e Act of 1 8 69 was remodelled in 1 884to meet the exigencies of a growin g demand for pastoral land T in smaller areas . here have been in all the other colonies similar amending Land Acts from time to t time , but I can safely say hat in no colony , with the

A r e exception of South ustralia perhaps , has more spect been paid t han in Queensland to the genuine rights of the leaseholder hence the capital th e

Colony has attracted , not only from Great Britain but other colonies , especially Victoria . As regar ds the leaders of parties in the Parliament a of Queensland of that time , the p lm of oratorical

244 A I A E TA Y E Q UEENSLAND P RL M N R LI F .

e . C . success of course easily lay with Charles Lill y , Q , who was gifted by nature with an excellent and per suasive voice and wa s never at a loss for the right word to illustrate his argument or chastise his foes . He would have held his o wn in any Assembly in the

b u t world , he was his own enemy in that he never ﬁ d gave suf cient cre it for high motives , and was w ’ avo edly a radical in a new country, where you don t

S I R AR TH U R H U N TE R P AL M E R .

want to uproot , but rather to plant out . His oppo A nent , rthur Hunter Palmer, who was the leader of the Pastoral party (afterwards Sir Arthur Hunter m Pal er , President of the Legislative Council), was a wonderfu l man to e mana te from sheep station man

m n t T a e e . g hough not an orator , he had the con vin cin g gift of speaking the stronges t common sense in excellent and at times indeed eloquent lang u age

245 O OF A U E E N S L AN D S U A TTE R j URNAL Q Q .

h e was always forcible , and when they lost him in the A Legislative ssembly , on his retirement to the Presi

a ff deney of the Council , P storal Queensland su ered a heavy loss and the Colony generally a sound and h Th e onest statesman . fact is the management of a colony is a good deal like the management of a m h im station on a large scale , and Pal er had proved

a n self excellent station manager , and in that business learned the best use to put the country to and the control of the various kinds of labour required to

develop it . Amongst those who were numbered in

f e w the Parliament of that day some ﬁlled , and that s ably , positions in the ministrie of the day , such as A John Douglas , Joshua Bell , rthur Hodgson , Robert

A A B r a mst o n Ramsay , rchibald rcher , and John but

Lilley and Palmer were the conspicuous leaders , and as such I venture to pay a tribute to their

w . memory, especially as they have passed a ay Following these n otable men other statesmen have since ﬁlled the roll of service as leaders of parties

and Premiers in Queensland , to wit , Sir Samuel

f T M cI l wr a ith a n d Grif ith , Sir homas , more lately Sir Hugh Nelson ; and when in the next and fast approaching century the history of Queensland comes t o be written ample j ustice will no doubt be given to

the services of these distinguished men . Having sat some time in Parliament with the ﬁ rst two I may venture to touch upon their leading characteristics

ff n o w ﬁ Sir Samuel Gri ith , who lls with honour the

post of Chief Justice of Queensland , is a ﬁrst rate

246

O U R N A L U A TTE j OF A Q EENSLAND SQ U R .

ﬁ d e n ce in him it is a matter of regret that ill - health d has in his case prematurely close a great career . A Of Sir Hugh Nelson , who has succeeded Sir rthur P almer in that haven of Queensland repose , the

. u Presidency of the Legislative Co ncil , it will be said of him that as Premier he was always safe on the bridge , with just and honourable instincts and a h im good shrewd head for accounts , which made an especially good treasurer . Sir Hugh is another in stance o f sheep station management qualifying for a the bigger grasp of colonial statesm nship , his early days having been spent in the industrious care of

ﬂocks and herds , ﬁrst for others , then for himself. In his too early and serene retirement Sir Hugh Nelson must remain pleasantly conscious of having

f e w made but enemies , and , at the same time , must congratulate himself in leaving a difﬁ cult task for his successor ; for the Que ensland of to - day is a different country to the Queensland of thirty years ago , having expanded more consistently and natu rall y than any other o f the Australian colonies from the fact of her possessing a greater diversity of soil and climate and resources within her , riches which seem to come out always when wanted , and that at the right time .

1 8 70 sa w Ma cAl ist e r vice elected Speaker , Elliot resigned ; and it also saw two dissolutions of the Assembly during twelve months, the ﬁrst given to M the Lilley Cabinet , the second to the Palmer inistry “ in July , the Governor granting the second con

248 L A A T Y Q UE E I VS N D P RLI AM E N A R LI FE . sid e r in g the defeat of both parties in the Legislative A im ssembly within so short a time , and the vital portance to the colony of a decision on its future Th ﬁnancial policy . e fact was in those days the balance of parties in a house of thirty members was a matter of one or two votes , and often that of the casting vote of the Speaker ; and I recollect Palmer congratulating me when I came down a second time as member for Clermont on “ forming the Govern

” ment maj ority , and he considerately made me whip of his party on that occasion . Palmer ’s Ministry consisted of himself as Colonial

B r a mst o n A - Secretary , as ttorney General , Robert

T . Ramsay Colonial reasurer , W . H Walsh Secretary T for Works , Malbon hompson Minister for Lands ,

- T . and . L Murray Prior as Postmaster General , a T strong team as things went , the Colonial reasurer , “ Robert Ramsay , making the most clear and lucid statement of the country ’s ﬁnancial position at that date that had so far been furnished to the country. It is well to recall that the loan account of th e A 1 8 61 ’63 ’64 colony at that date in the cts passed , , , ’ and 66 amounted in all to only 3 5 millions . ’ Palmer s programme was met on 3 0th November by a series of counter resolutions framed by Lilley which became famous , and which it is not unin t e r e st in Th e g to quote as a most liberal dish . resolutions were as follows

1 . Judicious system of immigration and liberal scheme of public works . O U R N AL A TTE j OF A Q UEENSLAND SQ U R .

2. Revenue to be derived from sale and rent of Crown lands in each district to be applied towards meeting interest of all money expended in public works in such district . 3 T . hat with this view it is expedient to alienate

l o w land at a rate or at cost of survey in fee simple , reserving a perpetual annual rent proportioned to the special advantages of their location . Th e division on this question was fourteen for and f n ourtee against the measure , the Speaker giving his castin g vote for the Government and against these resolutions in order to enable the Government to T procure supply . his meant a narrow shave for a gamble in land and the adoption of sell the land

ﬁrst and tax it after . With the limited knowledge we had of the real value of our lands in those days I always considered this proposal a ve ry dangero u s one , and succeeding years did not alter my opinion , and ever after I should have ticketed Charles Lilley as dangerous in politics .

u 1 8 70 T McI l wr a ith In J ly , , homas made his ﬁrst appearance in Parliament as member for the War ’ L il l e s rego ; he then took. his seat on y side , and

presumably voted for these resolutions . 1 8 7 1 In , Governor Blackall, an amiable gentleman who had never been strong and who had suff ered

from residence in hot countries , died , and was suc

ce e d e d , after a long interregnum ﬁlled by Sir Maurice

’ O Co n n el l - as Lieutenant Governor, by the Marquis of

m n r m n o r a bv . o a b N Lord N y, besides his long Par

25 0

O U R N AL A TTE j OF A Q UEENSLAND SQ U R .

r success , his st ong common sense and parliamentary experience standing him in good stead as a c o n stit u

t io n a l Governor , especially in cases of precedent

and disputes between rival leaders , which were not T uncommon in those days . his year saw nascent

o o f signs of returning prosperity , the l ng series

droughts having broken up , and that in some w districts ith destructive suddenness . 1 8 7 2saw the introduction of an Electoral Districts

n e w Bill , which gave twelve members to the A d ssembly , giving thereby more scope to its iscus

m n sions . No r a bywas one of the new electorates and

I was glad to sit for it , ceding my seat for Clermont

. . U to C J Graham , who some time after became nder fﬁ Secretary for Education . Samuel Walker Gri th this year began his eventful Parliamentary career as member for East Moreton ; also the witty and ever h f . t e B . cheer ul D Morehead , who moved address in A reply . new loan bill for a million and a half was

proposed , raising the whole indebtedness of Queens

in 1 8 7 2 land July , , to about a sixth of

our present burden .

1 8 7 3 a n d brought the new members with it , an

excellent lot they were ; C . J . Graham moved the B A . . address in a promising speech , Buchanan , called

” Little Buchanan , seconding it in an equally sensible d speech Henry King, who afterwar s occupied the ’ Speaker s chair , making a trenchant oration ; alto

ge ther the additions to Parlia ment were a success .

It was noteworthy , as recalling the economic progress

25 2 Y E Q UEEN SLAND PA RLI A M E NTA R LI F .

the colony was making at the time , that the Colonial T reasurer , Robert Ramsay , speaking in the debate on A the ddress , stated the following fact regarding our loans ; that whereas had in 1 8 66 been offered at six per cent . and disposed of at an average

1 2- 3 1 3 s . 8 7 7 £90 £6 . of , or per cent , the recent loan ( )

4l 1 s 1 0d . £4 £8 7 £ . at had fetched , or ; the colony

d . . had thus saved £2l s . 4per cent Had the public purse of the Colony been able to secure a continuity of the services of so clear - headed a business man as

Robert Ramsay as its custodian , it would have been a great advantage to the Colony . He was , however ,

ff e l a cted at the time with a throat ai ment , which caused his early retirement , much to the loss of the

a m ll e n o Colony . I happy to say he sti lives in the jy f ment of his excellent aculties in England , his numerous sons carrying on the pastoral occupations t h of e family in Queensland . Th e end of 1 8 7 3 saw another dissolution granted “ by Lord Normanby , so as to allow a new and enlarged house to be elected on a broader basis of

” Th e t h e representation . fact was turn of the wheel had come and wool was returning to its old price and

- everything recovering from the dark days of 18 66 70.

1 8 74 t h e opened uncommonly well for Colony , which was j umping ahead , a ministerial statement being made to the eff ect that the ﬁnancial operations for the last two years showed a surplus of revenue over expenditure of after liquidating a previous defi c it of

25 3 N A jO U R AL OF A Q UEENSLAND SQ U TTE R .

B z t . . u a co t J . R . Dickson and C H , both excellent men , made their ﬁrst appearance in Parliament at this period ; the ﬁrst continues a useful business - like career that has enabled him at one time to occupy ’ n the Premier s chair , and si ce as Chief Secretary to rend er excellent service s to Queensland as its delegate in London on t h e Federation question .

B u z a co t t t Mr . , after a useful career , has found res and repose in the Legislative Council .

25 4

O OF A L N A TT j URNAL " Q UEENS A D S Q U E R .

ing system , when a ﬂock of sheep with a knowing old hand at its tail would be driven over the pasture instead of roaming in perfect freedom and taking its

time to nibble the untrodden grass as it chose , either by day or by night ; the h abits of stock in semi tropical Queensland favouring feeding at early dawn

and late at night , the sheep generally camping in the

day time . Besides which , a lazy shepherd , who ’ m wasn t watched , ight not let out his sheep till any hour . T ’ We were not slow in following Messrs . ravers

W o l f a n f o r lead in beginning our fencing at g, which purpose we were lucky in havin g a splendid reserve of iron bark timber on the outskirts of our run .

Fencing meant increasing our debit at the bank , but we saw repose from lost sheep hunting and a smaller labour bill in days to come , as under the paddocking system the boundary rider might look after twenty thousand sheep instead of three . Of course the native dog had to be exterminated , and the demand for strychnine to poison baits with f A became great . We ormed an ssociation which off ered a pound a head for the scalp and tail of each native dog , so that , besides our own boundary riders , mailmen far and wide drove a good trade in securing scalps by laying baits on distant tracks . I recollect one year on the P eak Downs when nearly two thousand dogs were paid for , causing a whole

o f d sale destruction the readed dingo , which after wards led to an inroad of marsupials , a counter pest

25 6 E TA T I E W L F AN HE I O G . S P S ON L F , which increased rapidly after the destr u ction of

Th e their natural enemy . district for several years hereafter had to suff er heavily for thus destroyin g the balance of n ature many runs had to add to the sheep fencing marsup ial wire netting , which was very costly ; this after trying all kinds of battues to shoot o ff the wallaby and kangaroo inside the h paddocks as well as those outside , whic bred up in thousands in the outlying scrubs of the N o go a and l B e ya n d o which surround Peak Downs . Th e break up of the long drought of 1 8 70 took place , I well remember , in a very summary fashion 1 F 8 7 1 . on the last day of ebruary , Watercourses had not run for ﬁfteen months , the black soil plains

Wo l f a n a of g were parched and gr ssless , and large

in cracks gaped the soil here and there , dangerous f to sheep and horse ; the live stock , with laccid sides and drooping heads , hung about the wells waiting for the ﬁlling of th e tanks and troughs by the primitive but certain horse - and - whim process of

d W o l f a n those ays , for our water supply at g in

wa s dry weather wholly dependent on wells , the supply being secured at under 1 00 feet . We used

- o f R iver in a horse whims one regular pattern , with

- - Th e thirty gallon self acting buckets attached . moment the horse began hauling at the whim the sheep round the well would rouse up and make

a dash for the spouts that ﬁlled the troughs , giving the whim driver all he could do to prevent their

smothering . It was wonderful , certainly , to see how

25 7 O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R . stock would hold out with little and dry grass so

d - long as they coul get a belly full of sweet , cool

water .

r e co l It was a close and hot Sunday afternoon , I b lect , when my rother and I rode down to our agistment paddocks near Clermont to see how

matters were getting on there , when on our return d at sun own we noticed a bank of dark cloud , the

ﬁrst for many a month , rising over the line of Peak

Range , distant some twenty miles from our home T stead . his bank kept steadily and swiftly rising , l an ominous stillness prevai ed , and we made up our minds that something unusual was going to

happen . By dark the sky had become covered , and

- soon , driven by a north east wind , the water spout came down upon us fast and furious so much so that we had to run up to the kitchen for our evening ’ meal , which the servant couldn t face the storm to

bring down . It poured with a thin close rain ,

n which mea t big ﬂoods , and found out every crack

in our slabbed huts and shingled roofs , sleep being out of the question ; so brother and self and our

d u s a ch a tes ﬁ and factotum storekeeper , Baldwin , kept walking up and down the verandah wondering what

disaster the morning would bring with it . We had a ﬁne lot of breeding ewes about to lamb in our lower paddock and dreaded t heir having run i into the shelter of the creek timber , wh ch in a big T ﬂood would mean their being swept away . here t was no lull till morning in the thick rain , tha kept

25 8

O U R N A L A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

such as Gordon Downs and Yamala ; whilst fencing, n e w ff fencing mostly , too , had su ered enormously . We were also very anxious to learn the fate of w Clermont , my electoral town , hich lay at the

W o l f a n junction of g with Sandy Creek , some eight

miles below us , but it was some little time before news could get across . When our stockman came he brought news that carcases of our sheep were to be seen in the tree tops along the creek , and also caught on the roofs of such houses a s were left s tanding in Clermont , the lower portion of which

I n u d ici had been swept clean away , having been j o u sl y built between Sandy Creek and th e Clermont

Th e Lagoon . houses on the Sandy ridge beyond the Lagoon had escaped . Four or ﬁve people were

missing , and stories were told of a cottage , the corner posts of which had not been sunk in the ground , waltzing down the ﬂood with lamps alight . Th e i ed tor of the local paper had passed the night ,

m n with any others , in the forks of some eighbouring

trees , and had seen the ruin of his plant . Clermont had learned a lesson which I trust will be of proﬁt to that excellent little township in its future and

present building operations . It is well to ﬁx this ﬂood as an historical one that

- may happen again in sub tropical Queensland ; for , r exactly twenty yea s after , a similar waterspout fell “ t in the environs of Brisbane , during which twen y

- seven inches of rain fell in twenty four hours , t devasta ing the valley of the Brisbane and Bremer ,

260

O A OF A UE E N S L AN D S A TTE R j URN L Q Q U .

got into numbers , so that after judicious culling we were able to deliver good sheep with

f n 1 Wo l a g when we sold it in 8 7 5 . Th e price pastoralists obtained for wool in the

ﬁrst half of the seventies , together with current seasons , were excellent , and had these been main t in a e d we should have all become wealthy men . I recollect shearin g a clip of seven pounds per sheep over all at W o l f a n g and getting a shilling a pound f in the grease for it , and also selling wethers hal ﬂe e ce d at nine shillings a head f o r the Darling T Downs market . his was in 1 87 3 . At this time Peak Downs presented an attractive residence for a squatter . If the summers were hot

e u the wint rs were delightf l , and as everything was f progressing and the returns good , a man elt in Th good heart with himself. e scenery was never monotonous as long as you were in sight of Peak

Range ; and there was always plenty of work in

n e w laying out new paddocks , ﬁxing the site of wells , and ever and anon when these were bottomed

- watching the last blasts of our clever well sinker , l Marshal , when he had struck water on the rock and the last shot had to be ﬁred upon which the success of the ﬂow of water greatly depended . We built good huts and good horse paddocks for our

n boundary riders , and generally arra ged that they t should work together at mustering time , so tha on open country like Peak Downs one could work a

Th e big property with wonderfully few hands .

264

O A OF A A T E j URN L Q UEENSLAND S Q U T R . an honoured member of the Legislative Council in

Brisbane , did a wonderful ride from Clermont to

T a n d w able Mountain , the horses he used ere not

u m ch good after . He was so rej oiced at the upshot t of his visit hat , being of a sporting nature , he left his patient for a bit and had a turn after the kan

- garoo with fresh horses , notwithstanding his journey

3 0 . of miles Good old days , when our world was young .

r Kangaroo hunting is an a r t . If the dogs a e ’ l staunch and not tired , and don t require continua l encouragement to follow up their quarry , they wil

t h e so press the game that , like a boomerang , kangaroo will return to the spot he started from and be often killed within a short distance of his “ ” ’ An t h e lair . old man won t gallop far , but

so — ﬂ er s e yearling ones , called y , will generally giv the ﬂee t e st d o g a great chase and often best him .

~ I had a visit from a gay travelling barrister ,

M P . George B . Hudson (now for West Hertford

o n shire), about this time , that left a pleasant impressi on all concerned ; witty and good humoured , he thoroughly enjoyed the knocking about , and being an excellent taxidermist he was often busy recruiting and curing his specimens of birds . One day we

e brought him back an emu , and tried to persuad

‘ a h him it W s a large specimen of the bustard , whic it grew to a wonderful size on Peak Downs , but ’ wouldn t do , and we had a hearty laugh over it .

a n d n He got a little touch of fever ague , but soo

268 E H E E TA TI I W OL F AN G . S P S ON L F ,

o ff shook it , and we often now when we meet in England t alk of the Brisbane Club and the trip to W o l f a n g that fol lowed our ﬁrst meeting there in the days of our youth . T alking of emus and the rate they can trot at ,

Peak Downs was full of them , and I once for a

bet ran my horse Canary , a very speedy chestnut ,

h im n alongside a big male bird , took by the eck , dragged him for a few yards and let him go . So that is quite possible on a level plain . There is no more inoff ensive bird or a more picturesque one

a n d t than the emu , I do not think beyond aking the eggs occasiona lly for ornamental purposes they T are ever interfered with . hey yield oil that is held by old bush hands as a sovereign remedy for ff sti joints or rheumatism , and many and many a b u t has its bottle of emu oil hanging by the chimney ; this oil has the faculty of oozing out

of the glass , so permeating and incisive are its Th powers . e ﬂesh of the emu is like veal and not

at all bad eating . My friend P . F . Macdonald , of

N o o a 1 8 60 Yaamba , captured one on the g in , when he was in the direst straits for want of

rations ; it saved him and his mate , and so he A A adopted it as his crest . las for ustralian explorers

and pioneers generally , their crest has been oftener

a n d . . M a drooping one , few like P F acdonald have lived to reap substantial reward from the t aking up of country in early Queensland days .

269 C H A P T E R X I X

T WES WARD HO.

I N 1 8 72 r M . T Roderick ravers , of Peak Downs , had purchased from Messrs . Rule and Lacy the w A A lo er half of their ramac Creek Run , the ramac

n - bei g noted as a well watered creek , running through

l u rich mitchel grass plains , and eq al to anything A on the Barcoo , ramac Creek being one of the T heads of the hompson River , which runs parallel

- e to the far famed Barcoo , wat ring perhaps the A if richest pastoral country in ustralia , not in the d A f worl . ramac township had just been ormed , 180 a mile from the head station , which lay f miles west rom Peak Downs , most of the country between these districts after leaving the B el ya n d o

” being spinifex and so called desert country , some f of it growing also a poison bush , that o ten played havoc with travelling sheep if they cropped it when hungry .

A S co t ch ma n Wil l ie gallant and determined , Forsyth T ’ m by name , was Messrs . ravers and Gibson s anager A at the ramac , and under his charge the development of that property was rapid though costly , the prices for wool and sheep at that time perhaps warranting

270

O A OF A E E L j URN L Q U N S AN D S Q U A TTE R .

was looking out for a property at the time , and

. he after a short lapse of time resold it to our ﬁrm . Th e price Rule and Lacy ask ed and obtained for A 5 00 the upper part of the ramac , with about m square iles of country , was equal to a pound a

T f e w im head for sheep . here were but

r o ve me n t s p , only a few yards and paddock and

wa s one or two huts , so there everything to make . It was not long before I went up to take delivery of the property , driving by Surbiton, thence over the l o wranges that divide the B el ya n d o waters (which

t h e B u r d e k in are those of Suttor and , or Eastern waters) from the Western waters of the Thompson ’ j oining on to the Barcoo , forming Cooper s Creek , and eventually ﬂowing into Lake Eyre in South T Australia . his huge Western watershed embraces hundreds of miles of undulating plains , and may be c a lled the erstwhile ﬁeld of promise to many an Australian explorer ; it is now consecrated to the n development of a gigantic pastoral i dustry , which a woman , plucky Miss Flora Shaw , the travelling

Times correspondent of the great English , has perhaps better described and summarised in her

d . V. letters from Queenslan , Nos . IV and , than any other writer before or since .

’ Th e f a r it s b o u n d l e ss characteristics of the west ,

- extent , its sea like plains , the monotony of rich pasture with so few watercourses to accentuate it , are they not written in the heart and soul of many a plucky adventurer who either has made his pile

272 I VE T W R D S A H O. or lost his little all in the varied fortunes that good

or bad seasons , or bad and good times , have

? Th e brought him rich deep soil cannot ﬂy away ,

and there it must remain , to carry in years to come

u a simple , sturdy , healthy pop lation . Whatever it

becomes that must be on a large scale , for there T is no smallness in it . here are no savage races

to conquer and dispossess , it is a kingdom of peace and can be made one of peace and plenty . What it might have remained had not the discovery of artesian water some dozen years ago brought a fresh value to a great portion of this vas t a r ea l one cannot tel ; but , having secured the element hithert o most valued and most scarce in Central

u u and Western Q eensland , the f ture is assured and it cannot be a failure . Population not too hurriedly tempted thereon , light railways , and industrious producers free from political ambitions , must end in making it a great though certainly not a picturesque country

It may be further , with j ustice , added that the

n u climate of the great plains of Wester Q eensland , w the great summer heat not ithstanding , is essen t ia l l y a healthy one ; and that with hard work ,

co n stit u plain fare , and dry air , the debilitated tion is often restored , and in the winter months the weak are often made strong by the open air life that is the very essence of squatting in Western

Queensland . A C H PT E R X X .

R E E N A N D H CO A T E WEST.

W E christened the upper Aramac country Co r e e n a

so one of the blocks being named , and I experienced the same special pleasure in discovering its resources a n d capabilities a s I had felt in explorin g many

Th e l x a former piece of new country . dai y e pe d itio n s and camps on new and unstocked country , when that country is good , sets the pastoral

a t brain work , as you are always hoping to discover something better ; and here , barring some scrubby

t h e country on east boundary , it was all very good , and an experienced eye took in at once the variety of edible grasses and b u shes with h which the western country is blessed . T e creeks had hardly any fall , and the main creek had some splendid waterholes which abounded in ﬁsh and wild fowl ; whilst th e open downs had plenty of b l shelter in the oree , which resembles the maya l

a l l of the south , studding as it did the fringes of

’ the watercourses , of which , after the main creek ,

Politic Creek was the most important . I hav e seen a good deal of pastoral country in

274

R AL A E E A A T jO U N OF Q U NSL ND SQ U TE R .

and others , ﬂocked out to the new pastures then favoured by good seasons . This settlement of the Western country gave a rare good chance to teamsters , and a good many honest little fortunes were made by contractors for t h e T carriage of these large stations . here is no money more honestly earned than t hat saved by

r the nomadic car ier , who has to face at times both drought and ﬂood a n d is responsible for valuable property in all kinds of seasons . Most of them

h o w know to make themselves fairly comfortable , t w w however, of en travelling ith their ives and families , who drive the spare bullocks and horses , and on occasions I have seen a good milch cow form part of the equipment where there was a young r family in question . Ca riers are proverbially hos

it a bl e p , and a pot of tea with a slice from the big damper and highly- corned beef is spontaneously ﬂ’ d o er e in all cases to the less fortunate traveller . Successful carriers in my mind form the backbone of Queensland selectors ; their money has been hardly earned and t h e squatter has never grudged it ; they know how to invest it , and a bad season ’ doesn t cow them. Carriage by teams is an industry ’ which railways won t altogether displace , for there is the trafﬁ c from side distances and places beyond the reach of railroads , so that the working bullock and draught horse are always likely to re main a portion of the stock - in - t rade of both old a n d new

Queensland .

276

O U R N AL A UE E A A TTE j OF Q NSL ND SQ U R . will never see a more capable cattle manager ; Ker

t h e looked after incipient ﬂock at Bowen Downs . So I started at Co r e e n a with a lot of good neigh bours , being men who knew what they were about . Th e only d rawbacks were high wages and long w carriage , though , as I have said before , all ould have gone well had wool and sheep prices kept up . Soon after the development of the Aramac country A we got a coach service from Clermont to ramac , and many a trip I took on Cobb ’s coach when it ’ T wasn t convenient to take my own buggy . hese trips were often wet or d r y ; in the former case we had to walk over long distances of boggy ground , every now and then having to lever out

Th e the coach that had sunk to its axles . shades of evening sometimes overtook us , and an impromptu camp had to be made without food and with many a mosquito as companion . There would be generally a glass of grog , however, to be had from one or other of the passengers whose provision lay in that T direction . here are no harder worked men than ’ d Cobb and Co . s drivers in the outsi e districts of

Queensland , as they often have to drive with half

h - m a broken horses over alf ade tr cks , cutting in and out o f the bush with nerve and wrists of iron . Most of the co u n t r v between Clermont a n d Aramac wa s bad drivi n g and required great skill t h e great point was an early start, especially in the hot summer w months , hen the heat and ﬂies of the noontide hour became specially aggravating to ma n and beast .

28 0

R C H APT E X X I .

FAREWEL L To PE AK DOWNS .

THE 1 8 7 5 year , that followed our acquisition of

Co r e e n a in the then far west , was a year of move ff ment in Queensland pastoral a airs , the natural sequence of complete recovery from ﬁnancial pres sure , and a return to high prices for wool and

consequently for sheep , which were bound to keep

t S o high wi h so much western country to stock . when I went down to my sessional work early in May of that year I found the leading ﬁrms of stock

and station agents in Brisbane doing a good business , and it was not long before my indefatigable friend William Forrest had felt my pulse regarding the

o l f a n sale of our W g property , which after three

ﬂe r good years was in excellent condition to o . Of

course our Sydney partner had to be consulted , and

a fter a good deal of palaver and correspondence , w A to ards the middle of ugust , and after I had

t s arted my shearing on return to the station , a

sale on satisfactory terms was concluded to Messrs .

Coldham , Cochrane and Hislop , of Melbourne , at the price of a pound a head for something over

” sheep , everything given in .

284 ’ ’ L L ’ F AR E I VE TO PE AK D O I VN S .

W o l f a n g had been an instance of continuous ﬁ 1 8 61 progress . We had some dif culty in to carry

r a ﬂock of sheep there for want of natural wate , but we gradually and steadily developed it by 3 f t sinking good wells which ranged from 0 to l 00 .

in depth , and with these and the country divided into a number of fair - sized paddocks we had no d iﬂi c u l ty in running over sheep on about acres of black soil land ; and though the Peak Downs country did not fatten as well as the it Barcoo was real good sheep country all the same ,

and I presume and understand it is so to this day . We had bred over lambs in the last three

a n d years , that had enabled us to cull our sheep

th e thoroughly , and they were a good even ﬂock , Rosenthal German Merino bl ood having done us

good service . Time spent in the sheep drafting yards is never

regretted , though in these days of big ﬂocks and ﬁnancial speculation I am afraid the great indi vidual

care of the old days is not practised , and for big lots of sheep the “ swing gate is more in use than “ ” the handling system . Often have we returned from our drafting yards hungry and dusty to take

- our mid day meal , tasting more sheep dust than

anything else in what we ate , but there was the comfortable consciousness that our ﬂock was im proving by the rigid culling of the bare - bellied

i - t and w ry woolled , and one felt sure tha a few ounces more weight of wool every shearing meant

28 5 O A F A E E A S U A TTE j URN L O Q U NSL ND Q R .

T an eventual prize in the great pastoral lottery . his work was pleasant also if it meant getting you out

m ' of debt , for it has ever bee an unpleasant job “ working the dead horse , as it was called later

t h e on when fall in wool and consequently in sheep , and the fall in tallow and hides and consequently in S t cattle , made quatting from the eigh ies to the t period of my writing a dreary and heavy ask , t ins ead of the brisk , lightsome work that it used to be in Queensland ’s early pastoral days of thirty years ago . W e sheared our last clip at W o l f a n g in July and A 1 8 7 5 b 3 0th ugust , , and v September I had handed over this ﬁne property without a hitch to the n e w

M r . managing partner , Hislop , who had expressed himself more than satisﬁed with the property and the bargain they had got . It certainly was delivered

ﬁ r st - to him in rate working order, and if the kan ga r o o s and the selectors could have been kept away ’ W o l f a n g was quite a squatter s paradise .

I - w a n d certainly felt a pang at parting ith it , turning my back on this ﬁne district , which I had worked hard in for over fourteen years and r e pr e sented in Parliament for the best part of that period , which had been one of continual development in a l l t respects . I had stocked and taken up the greates portion of it in 1 8 61 when it was unstocked and

u , nimproved , and I was leaving it mostly fenced and

- a - watered , and with nearly half million of sheep upon it . I was also leaving a lot of real good

28 6

A E R C H PT X X I I .

HOMEWARD BOUN D AN D OL D ENGLAND

AGAIN .

M ADE 1 87 6 I a start for Europe in December , , from ’ Melbourne with my partner s son , taking our passage in n . Ta o r ss . e the P . and O j , commanded by that most c As harming of captains , Julius Orman . we steamed ’ o u t of Hobson s Bay I could hardly realise that I was leaving the shores upon which I had landed a

- - Th e fresh coloured you th twenty four years before . s uns of Queensland and the pioneering of Peak Downs had left their traces in the sober individual who paced the deck of the P . and O . liner , drinking in the fresh sea breeze which travellers across the great Australian Bight are wont to receive in occasionally s trong doses . We had some charming Victorians of leading families aboard , and found ourselves very c omfortable bar the rolling ; the Ta njo r e being over d maste , and once set rolling resembled a pendulum in her action . It was not long before a number of kindred spirits arranged to avail themselves of the option of extending our tour to Bombay after touching at

28 8 M E WA B AN D OL D E H O RD O UND NG LAND .

t Point de Galle , which was the poin of call at

Ceylon in those days . This would give us a fort

ia night India , and as we were travelling more for pleasure than business in those days this arrange At ment suited most of us . Point de Galle we had a coupl e of days to acquaint ourselves with the tropical beauties of Ceylon , a land which is never visited l without interest , especial y by the somewhat drought A stricken ustralian , and thence went on to Bombay , ﬁ spending a cheerful Christmas on board , the rst and only one it has been my lot to spend aboard ship . Our fortnight at Bombay was employed in

&c . pleasant excursions to Matheran , Poonah , , organ ising successful moonlight j aunts that long dwelt

in my memory , our party of about twelve being

- always merry , open handed and in good humour , as beﬁts Australian s on a holiday .

n e w During this period , which covered the year ’ 1 8 7 7 B e a co n sﬁ el d s P r o cl a of , Lord great Imperial mation was being carried out at Delhi , where Her

Majesty was named Empress of India amidst . sur roundings of the greatest splendour . I recollect the glow of enthusiasm and pride that ﬁlled our Australian hearts at the thought that a handful of our white countrymen should hol d the sway over the dusky millions of India , when these few , as we could j udge from the teeming population of Bombay , could hardly be noticed in point of number . I recollect the great Durbar rejoicings at Delhi being saddened by a polo accident which caused the death

28 9 O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R . of a promising ofﬁ cer whose name I have now forgotten .

Th ia m . e S . , a somewhat newer P and O liner than

Ta n o r e the j , took us from Bombay to Brindisi , and we were soon made aware that evening dress and

d e r i u eu r n smart toilettes would be g in the eveni g, for we had on board some of the belles of the court

Th e of Lord Lytton . evenings were pleasantly spent in listening to the supremely good singing of some of the passengers , which enabled us to make light of the Persian Gulf and its dreary heat . I remember speaking to the engineer o f the S ia m about what he thought the shortest time that the Australian voyage from Brindisi to Albany was ever likely to be done in our time . He replied twenty seven days ; and I not e that we have l a t el v arrived at about that rate of speed in the new vessels of the

. Th O . e P . and , and , indeed , other lines too oft

n o t dreaded Red Sea treated us unfairly , and we T landed at Suez . here was no Suez Canal opened in those days . Not unwilling to tackle the desert route A by railroad to lexandria , we had a cool , though dusty , railway journey across , the sharp , clear air of Egypt in Ja n u a r y reminding me of that you so often get in the winter months of Western Queensland . Our journey across from Alexandria to Brindisi was without incident , and I was glad to land there and feel myself once more in Europe . I had made f riends with the chief of the Customs at Calcutta , an Indian civilian to whom I became indebted for a

290

R AL A E E A A TTE jO U N OF QU NSL ND SQ U R .

A the students of England and ustralia , for the Isles of Britain in days of yore were not too far for

Roman conquest , and many an Englishman derives the force of character that has enabled him to

colonise with success , not only from a possible but a probable Roman descent . N R aples gave me a zest to see eternal ome , F lorence and G enoa ; so I determined to spend t h e spring in Italy and thus avoid the too rigorous climate of England . My friend , who , lucky fellow , had inherited a Scottish estate , left me at m Naples , but I had always the companionship of y ’ s e cime m partner s son , who was an excellent p of

Australian growth . My sister came from England R to join me , and could hardly recollect the ugby boy in the seasoned Queenslander that she came

to meet in Italy . Rome gave us the unalloyed classical pleasure it ever gives to those who escape the Roman fever and are not kept short of time and means to

enjoy its endless treasures of the past , and to A A ustralians , as to mericans , it will ever have special charms in that making of history which A they somewhat lack . fter spending a busy fort

night we visited Florence , where we found the weather pretty cold ; we there saw occasionally

- d the ill fated heir of the Napoleons , who was destine some year s later to sacriﬁce his life on the English

altar of conquest in South Africa . Receiving an invitation from my brother to

292 H M E WA B AN D E A O RD O UND OLD NGL ND .

e visit him at his villa near G noa , I managed to spend a month with him , which I thoroughly enjoyed . We made excursions from the Vill a

Carmagnola , near Pegli , to Genoa , Milan , Savona

n and the Riviera ge erally , and not being pushed for time I had a good opportunity of investigating the contents of many a Genoese palazzo , that breathed of the glorious days when Genoa divided with Venice the supremacy of the Mediterranean . Nothing was more soothing after a hard matter A of fact life in ustralia , than to revel in the rest ’ and repose of cultured Italy , and slake one s thirst for sentiment and colour at the many founts that A abound in this land of past glories . fter seeing galleries I was glad to stroll out at Genoa in the A gardens of the qua Sola .

It will take some time , but it is not unlikely t hat Port Jackson wil l some day gather to its lovely shores some sentiment of romance not unlike that of Italian seas ; some time after I spent an ’ Bl o x o m s . e afternoon at Mr villa , on the north shore of Sydney Harbour , looking at sea pieces painted m by the asterly hand of Oswald Brierley , that in adjuncts of sea and sky reminded me a good

wa s deal of the Gulf of Genoa , and quite its equal in winter beauty . From Genoa I made my way by the Eastern w Pyrenees , whence our family s prang , there to rene the recollections of my early boyhood , and so on

t o o in to Paris , s pend a go d time the city O AL A E E j U R N OF Q U NSL AND SQ UA TTE R .

where one is never dull . I had not been there since I was a very little boy , having passed through 1 848 it after the terrible days of June , , when Cavaignac saved Paris from mob rul e and the A Faubourg St . ntoine , together with other parts of Paris I was then shown , had been riddled with bullets . We had then , I recollect , stopped at the

d u Hotel Rhin , where Louis Napoleon , a claimant f o r the Presidential Chair , which he ﬁlled later on ,

was also staying . From the windows of the hotel “ ” sa w e we the great F te de la Concorde , when “ ’ ” troops o f l a r mé e de Paris d e ﬂl e d in victorious and imposing stre ngth to the air of the “ M n arseillaise , my you g eyes being dazzled with

the incessant glitter of uniforms and bayonets .

Th e chief alteration I noticed in London , after

- my absence of twenty four years , was in the neigh

b o u r h o o d A of Northumberland venue , the great town house of the Percys having given way to a series of huge hotels that dispense to colonists and Americans an hospitality of much greater

pretension than that of a quarter of a century ago .

However , I contented myself with rooms in Duke

Street , from which I could pay some of those many visits an Australian with good English con

n e ct io n s w is ever asked to pay . I shall al ays

recollect the kindness of good friends , amongst other attentions receiving an invitation to the honorary membership of the Travellers ’ Club ’ through my f riend Ridley S mith s f ather . I was

294

OU R N AL A E E A A T j OF Q U NSL ND SQU TE R .

c course , the secret of the succulen e and tenderness of the home - grown meat that it is reared without

having to travel for its food , the live stock in

“ in ﬁ England being brought up in their , to us ,

n it e sima l enclosures , feeding on the green herbage

that a certain rainfall never ceases to keep tender . Where after all can the traveller match the fertility of old England in its summer months ? An d how sweet that lingering twilight to the returned traveller from a land where the sun sets suddenly as if ashamed of its dangerous vigour " Amongst other visits I was glad to be ask ed to spend a day or two with Sir George Walker of

e W o r t t Castleton , near N p , who ook me to look over ’ Mr . R . Stratton s celebrated herd of shorthorns near

v there , a most instructi e and enj oyable day , every

thing good , especially a champion heifer , and the “ P ” great bull rotector , which were worth going

a long way to see . I also enjoyed being shown over T redegar, the seat of those kings of South Wales , th e sporting Morgans ; there I made my ﬁrst acquaintance with hunting stables on a large T d scale , both Lord redegar , who had rid en in the

Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava , and his

mil e d . l i s czm u s brother , the Hon Fred Morgan , being in

u T the h nting ﬁeld . Everything at redegar was old fashioned and solid , and had not apparently fallen into any enervating luxury . ’ At d the time I paid a visit to Mr . Stratton s stu

- r e s . in farm , the were good price still go g with

296 H AN D E A OM E I VA R D B OUND OLD NGL ND .

Australian breeders for highly bred shorthorns . It is a pity that since these days cattle in Queens A land , and indeed in ustralia , have become woefully

unremunerative , and that English breeders of short horns o r Herefords have to turn to America generally and Argentina in particular to get a liberal market

for their stock . I am afraid Australian herds must deteriorate unless a ﬁ l l ip comes to make us all once

more take pride and pleasure in our herds . Th e

tick and the quarantine it has brought with it, of

which more anon , have a good deal to answer for , but that Queensland is destined to h e the special habitat

- - of well bred cattle , the excellence and wide spread

nature of its cattle country certainly points to .

Th e d same slack time of epression , except perhaps

in regard to racehorses , has reached the value of

A v a ustralian horse stock , these ha ing f llen so

- fi woefully in the past twenty ve years , that the

ﬁ ve price for hacks , which in old days was a good

- and twenty pounds , has now come down to the

Th e A modest ﬁver . returned ustralian is always struck with the super—excellence of t h e London

omnibus horses , a particular breed unmatched in its wa y for its bone a n d substance ; also with that of the great hunting stock that furnish an animal bred to provide speed and safety for the well t o - do class who take their winter pleasure in the sport of fox

v h hunting . Still , I belie e that wit strict attention to pr o per mating an alm o st equally good animal c a n be

in A we d e o bred ustralia , if could pend up n a

29 7 O U R N AL A E E A A T E j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U T R .

certain market in England , India or South Africa . There is many a well- bred colt of fashion and good £ 10 shape sold in the Melbourne yards for , which

£5 0 . would be worth in London India , no doubt , “ ” takes a good few of our best Walers , still the

n trade is incomplete and u satisfactory . We have got the winterless climate and the blood and the natural food , we only want the market . Provision for the c a valry remounts of Europe should also more earnestly occupy the attention of Australian breeders . A ustralian draught stock , at any rate in Queens t land , has fared no better , and that hrough no want of enterprise on the part of " breeders ; for such studs as Maryvale and Fassifern have f o r over a quarter o f a century imported fresh blood of the Clydesdale and Shire breeds from th e best

To sources procurable in Great Britain . these ﬁne Queensland studs we used to go from the west and north for our stud colts , and they have ﬁgured as champions on many a Queensland

show ground , but now prices have fallen one half, notwithstanding the fact that on the roads the nimbler draught horse is replacing the slower

f o r working bullock , and that all earth work and

dam making draught horses are in constant use . As far as racehorses go Australia may be content

with the stimulus lately given to breeding race , horses in Australia by the sale of the great “ w Carbine to the Duke of Portland , follo ed by “ T the migration of renton and others , to say

298

O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

- say good bye till they met again at country houses , than the eager struggle of the racing business I had witnessed at Flemington and Randwick . I have had a great fondness for Australian country racing , and once indulged in it on a

wa s small scale in Central Queensland , where I ﬁ fairly successful , but , of course , it was a dif cult thing to know there when a horse not thorough bred was properly trained . My ﬁrst idea of English racehorses led me to think they were overtrained , so lazily and languidly did t h e v move about com A pared to ustralian country cocktails ; of course , in most cases I must have been wrong . Some horses will do with half the training of others , and there can be no uniform rule applying to all horses . In a hot climate we used to work o u r nags at earliest dawn ; I suppose in England they are galloped at all hours . One thing we must

t o n e all agree about , and that is hat there is the

a e day, and , indeed , the one hour , at which hors

o f in training is at its best , and that the secret s uccess is that he should make his venture at that supreme moment . ’ s Later on , I got an order to see the Queen stud at Hampton Court , which I much enjoyed . “ ” A o f mongst the mares I saw Viridis , the dam

o e Springﬁeld , and amongst the stalli ns , there wer “ ” “ A Pall Mall , St . lbans , and that king of the “ ” - t o the robust Prince Charlie , all in tip p order , as one may imagine .

3 00 C H APT E R X X I I I .

A B A C K T o A U S TR L I A .

WI TH the English autumn came my resolution to return to Australia and look after the stocking up

h a d a d of Co r e e n a in person . I had goo time in England and h a d tired of doing nothing and was T anxious to get to work again . here were the usual

u adie x to friends new and old , and the packing up of the new ﬁ t - outs A ustralians always think they require at the hands of English tailors . I had taken

Did . . my passage Brindisi , where I caught the P and O

e C yl o n with my friend Orman again as captain . A We had a hot trip across to lexandria , picking

P o o n a h up the crowded at Suez , where we entered h upon , thoug it was early in October , the hottest trip that old ship was said ever to have made T through the Red Sea . here was no breeze to

speak of, and the ship was not a fast one ; the sea looked like molten lead and the sun rose of a f morning like a ball of ire , the supply of ice turned

fi e out insuf cient , and we w re right glad to make

Aden and get out of the worst o f the heat . had a mixed lot of passengers and an inc ongruous O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R . one as far as Galle — An Australian Governor and

e A fﬁ his suit , an dmiral and o cers going to China , some rather rough Calcutta pilots , a comedy troupe going to the same place , and last , but not least , ﬁ a corps de ballet dif cult to repress . It was t o o “ ” hot for so many factions , and we were right glad to separate at Galle ; some for Bombay , some

u for Calc tta , some for China , and the rest for

Australia .

Who can deny that a P . and O . voyage is an introduction in itself to “ all sorts and cond itions

. — of men for here we had men in high places , polished sailors , celebrated actors , lucky miners , to say nothing of occasional adventurers and adventuresses , all mingling together and bound

o f i - by the courtesies sh p board , though never k li ely to meet again , to exchange thoughts and ideas .

At Galle— and wh o ‘ d o e s not recoll ect its ram

o f parts , often the scene many a farewell between passengers who there d ivide their ways — we got

Ta n o r e the rolling old j again , and , starting with a head wind and fresh sea , bade fair to make a long ’ T trip to King George s Sound . his long stretch of ocean is the dreariest portion of the trip w A bet een England and ustralia , but I made the

best of it . I had a good cabin to myself and

A . . that next to Captain lmond , a valued P and O A commander , who was going to delaide , deputed to investigate the mysterious robbery of

3 02

O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

d Peak Downs frien s near Orange , who took me w an expedition up the Canobolas Mountain , hence

I had a ﬁne view of the country round Orange , which should be reckoned one of the gardens

Th e of N S W . sight of this valley of the Macquarie carries one back to the old days of

S . W . t N . se tlement when the intrepid pioneers

Wentworth , Blaxland and Lawson , gazed for the 1 8 13 ﬁrst time , in , on this land of promise from one of the highest spurs of the broken mountain

” “ u mass that forms the Blue Mo ntains , these being now traversed by an ingenious railway , of which the descent into the plains of t h e Macquarie “ - - is the far famed zig zag , which is quite an engineering to u r d e f o r ce . Befor e the end of the year it was necessary that I should go up to Brisbane and loo k into a number o f Crown Lands matters connected with the leases

f o r e n a u o C e . So I once more steamed p to Brisbane a n d h e put up at our Queensland Club , w re as usual

I met a host of friends . I dined at Government A House with Sir rthur Kennedy , who was then the reigning Governor , and his daughter , whose e xperiences in other governments stood her in good s A tead . Sir rthur was one of a band of brothers who had devoted their lives to the service of their Q ueen ; he was then commencing his government of Queensland , which was only terminated by his 1 3 88 . lamentable death in June ,

I returned to Sydney in time for Christmas , later

3 04 B A CK TO A T A I A US R L .

on I paid a visit for the new year to Dr . Jenkins , T of Nepean owers , on the Hawkesbury , to inspect his famous shorthorns , a couple of which , of the “ ” T t su b se famous heodore family , I bough at a T quent visit . Nepean owers wa s not a bad imita tion of an English country house , and the family wa s charming ; but beyond the stud herd there

n t was o much to see in the surrounding country .

As t a mat er of climate it was not bracing, and wealthy settlers are now more given to seeking

- the health giving altitude of the Blue Mountains , than building their homesteads on the eastern sid e 7 of them . I S pent the ﬁrst month of 1 8 8 very l p easantly at Sydney , the social pleasures of which were always pleasantly blended with novelty , for ’ one me t at the hospitable houses of Sydney s merchant kings travellers of culture , who had visited many a land and could t alk of something beyond the gossip of a town , the hospitalities of A Mount delaide to wit .

3 05 A E R C H PT X X I V . VISITS TO THE DARLING DOWNS— STOCKING — T T R UP CORE E N A I NCIDEN S OF LIFE HE E .

[ L E F T for Queensland again at the end of January 1 8 7 8 , and paid a round of visits on the Darling

ﬁ n e Downs , this district being then in a condition of prosperity . I went to Headington Hill and spent

n h . . w o a few days with M C Maso , had everything T in apple pie order . his estate was all freehold , and about the pick of the agricultural portion of t h e Darling Downs ; it had been put together by

a William Davenport , an experienced Victori n , for

. A his principals , the Messrs Fisher . good deal of

the best land was under plough , and model farm

ing was the order of the day . It was no doubt a matter of con siderable beneﬁt

to owners of land on the Darling Downs , that experiments in agriculture should be made by me n f of experience , who could , at any rate then , af ord it ; but it is somewhat sad to reﬂect that pioneers

generally are not successful , and that agriculture T forms no exception to that rule . his beautiful estate throve as long as yo u could feed it with

3 06

OU R N A L A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

“ e grew magniﬁc nt vegetables , especially English potatoes , which took the prize at the Warwick

sa w show , and equalled anything I ever at English

. At shows Maryvale , we came in for a capital crop of grapes , which thrive particularly well on m . y all parts of the Darling Downs I ﬁnd by y diar , I coupled business with pleasure in buying thirty

ﬁ ve f Gl e n a l l a n bulls rom Slade , of g , at the then £ 15 h low price of eac , and secured from Maryvale “ ” f o r £ 15 0 e , that ﬁne Clydesdal colt , Enterprise , which became in after years the champion of th e A ramac district .

Gl e n a l l a n I visited also g , once the property of

n o w a Marshall and Deuchar , that of M rshall and T ’ Slade . his property had under Slade s careful t management , even then a tained a high reputation f o r breeding every class of stud stock ; the rich black soil of the creek ﬂats being e specially

f o f e avourable to the growth luc rne , of which more has been grown ther e than perhaps on any T estate on the Darling Downs . his supply was

f o r used the winter keep of the stud stock , and

it was hard to say which were the best , the

th To u ma n e . shorthorns , or merinos any yo ng who elects to start a farm for agricultural or

grazing purposes in Queensland , I would certainly

Gl e n a l l a n say , go and have a look at g , and work

f o r . under Slade a twelvemonth If he does so ,

there is no fear of his contracting lazy habits . T 18 78 his February , , brought splendid rains

3 08 N AN D N AT B A N Q U E E S L I VE E R AN D Y OU G .

OU R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

d ocks for the boundary riders , drafting yards , and

u - - d last , but not least , an p to ate woolshed with huts

for the shearers , wool presses of a modern pattern ,

etc . , etc . , the cheque book was always going and

the debit side of the bank book swelled visibly . Still there was encouragement both in the excel lence of the country and in the fact that a lot of

c r clever Vi torians and others we e doing the same , Al l and that on a big scale . this development was being done on the faith that the prices for wool and

S T heep would remain what they had been . hey did so u p to 1 8 84; after that the fall was steady and b seemingly irrecovera le , and those who held on

su ﬂer beyond that period had to the penalty , whilst T those who sold out saved their bacon . hat is

broadly what took place , but there were undoubtedly instances where by prudence and good management proﬁ ts continued to be made after the year I have m entioned , especially when the debt on the property wa s not a large one . Of squatting on unborrowed c apital there were very few instances in Queensland ,

the establishment of big banks , finance and mortgage companies to wit . I t may be a comfort , however , to reflect that the opening up and fertilizing of country , if not always fortune making , is a generous and unselfish pursuit , and that it has occasionally even in that distant land its moments of unalloyed sat isfaction . I well recollect we made a big d a m on Politic C reek , and soon after it was finished I had to go

3 12

O U R N AL F A E E A j O Q U NSL ND SQ UA TTE R .

Th A t h e . e scale , in broad west ramac Show of June , 1 8 78 . , was an excellent beginning It became cus ’ t o ma r y to follow the S how up with three days good ’ n racing , making up a week s car ival . I recollect we got a fair S hare of prizes in the horse and cattle

classes , the sheep prizes going chieﬂy to Saltern , A m ramac and Bowen Downs . For erino sheep the t pens of fat we hers were extraordinary , averaging

m n l 90 so ethi g ike lbs . weight , so fattening were the T grasses of the district hese shows , which are

carried on now I am glad to see , became famous institutions , enabling the squatting neighbourhood to meet in friendly rival r y and discuss endless sub

e cts S j of heep and cattle management , and con cert protective measures of alas "growing interest such as the extermination of marsupial a n d other T pests . hese shows are multiplying with the growth of the country , and to the sparse exhibits originally sent many others are bein g added connected with t A f . A agriculture , dairying and so orth ramac ,

though at ﬁrst conﬁned to shee p, cattle and horses , the show was wonderfully good , and it would have been hard to beat at Brisbane , Sydney or Melbourne cattle of the breeding and symmetry of some of the

T o r Co r e e n a . exhibits from horntons , Mount Cornish Co r e e n a was a bit o ff the main road from Blackall A to ramac , still we used from time to time to see A neighbours and friends , and one day in ugust I was A glad to see Inspector John herne turn up , for he was amon gst the best known and most efﬁ cient police

3 1 6 I E A I D I V SI T TO TI I D RL NG O VN S . o ﬂiCer s in Western Queensland , who had secured to that district its meed of safety to person and property w and had grown with the district , thereby kno ing

- - - the ins and outs of stockman and boundary rider ,

a n d w shearer and teamster , ith an insight into the

e inner thoughts of cattle or horse stealers . I b lieve John Aherne had assisted in the famous Bowen

Downs cattle stealing case of the early Barcoo days , and no big police case in the western districts could h be well solved wit out his assistance . Like most Irishmen he loved a good horse and kept a few

An good ones . y way his arrival was always cheery and welcome , and on this occasion , accompanied by a couple of troopers , he was in an unusual hurry , and we had some d ifli cu l ty in making h im stop the night , for he said he had been sent for to Mutta A burra , a township fifty miles beyond ramac , near which in a reservoir near the road the body of a Th swagsman had been found floating . e man had evidently been stabbed and robbed of whatever he

n o may have had on him . I w give the case as Aherne told it to us on his return to Aramac He f ound on enquiry at Ma t t a b u r r a township that a man answering the description of the murdered man had passed through the to wnship with a mate who had spent the night with him at the reservoir ;

t o A wa s that man was the man ﬁnd out , and herne

soon working the wires , enquiring after that mate

n c b u t o the main roads leading to the oast , without f A w ef ect . herne someho got an idea that the man

3 17 E A T jO U R N AL OF A Q UE NSL ND SQ UA TE R .

had not travelled down country , but probably doubled back for safety , so as luck would have A it herne made for the Bowen Downs woolshed ,

r where , as the biggest shed of that pa t of the country , a large number of hands used to gather up . ’ Th e woolshed and the shearers hut were visible a A long way from the Muttaburra road , and herne ’ and his men rode straight to the cook s galley , and entered into conversation with the cook , who was h im bustling about , asking what new hands had

ma n been lately taken on . Aherne thought the bit A looked a confused , and well he might , as herne casually , on bending down to get a light for his

th e pipe from the ashes of galley ﬁre , spied the

o u t glimmer of silver , and hooked of the cinders t a silver chain and wa ch , which it became evident the cook had hastily hidden on seeing the police a ride cross the plain towards his camp . His guilty Ah conscience had betrayed him , for when erne put

’ h a n d cu ﬂs him into on divining the situation , a cheque in favour of the murdered man , together with other chattels , were found in his swag . Cir c u mst a n tia l evidence accumulated against him , and no doubt he would have been convicted had Aherne h im been able to bring back to the nearest jail . But the man cheated the gallows ; he wa s tem po r a r il y handcuffed round the chimney post of an old hut , and on getting freedom and the use of a knife to eat his dinner with he plunged it into his

s . heart , and thu ended this bush drama

3 1 8

R C H APT E X X V . A H T T UT S OR RIP SO H SYDNEY, A T U . MELBO RNE , HOB R

AF TE R shearing I wended my way south again , looking up the Sydney Exhibition , and sharing sundry hospitalities at Government House , where Sir Hercules and Lady Robinson w e re at the time the popular representatives of royalty in New South

I t e Wales . was impossible not to admir and respect d a man , who , like Sir Hercules , a ded to the greatest experience in Colonial administration and an accurate knowledge of Colonial ministers , a

h a cco m t orough knowledge of all ﬁeld sports , an pl ish me n t which go e s a long way in the Australian

n r Colo ies , where , at certain times of the yea , a Governor is a good deal like a ﬁsh out of water

if he does not understand racing . Sir Hercules A i raced himself and with fair success , the ustral an “ h ” Derby winner Kingsboroug , and other winners

n o w to wit . I can recall him facing the lawn at

Randwick , talking to James White , Edward Lee , or

-u Harry Dongar , his well set p ﬁgure , clad in the

e - ﬁ t tin inevitable w ll g grey frock coat , discussing

3 20

O U R N AL OF A E E A D UA TTE j Q U NSL N SQ R .

o f e beauty , ev ryone looking pleased , for neither time nor business seem in Hobart to write t h e wr in kl e s l ’ they do on peop e s brows in Sydney and Brisbane . We were in time to see the annual race meeting at

S I R F R E DE R I CK W E L D ,

f m n i (Go ve rn o r o Tas a a).

o f e Elwick , in that charming bend the Derw nt

e which forms , perhaps , one of the most pictur sque

su ch l o vel racecourses in the world . In y surround ings we thought that neve r h a d P iper se c tasted

3 24 A H T T I TH S OR R P SO U . so exhilarating as at dear old Smith Travers ’ luncheon carriage . Travers and his brother stewards had done m wonders for the anagement of the meeting , which with pleasant society and perfect surroundings went ff A o famously . I recollect meeting Sir James gnew ’ at William Degr a ve s to taste a so -called Tasmanian " w salmon , which was only , alas a large bro n trout but the controversy was raging ﬁercely on the

a n d subject at the time I said nothing . I also enjoyed an evening with Sir Fred erick Weld , who

” treated us to venison from Quamby , and Hermitage ’ from the Cd te s d Or ; verily one could exclaim with “ Byron , Fair clime where every season smiles benignant o ’er that blessed Isl e ” with greater justice in regard to Tasmania than any “ Isle of

” Greece , so perfect is the climate and so excellent

m o f are the various a enities life .

T f o r his was not my ﬁrst visit to the island , I had been there in Colonel Gore Browne ’s time many f years be ore , and I visited it in after years , but Hobart has never palled ; it has always been and ever will be the sanatorium of tropical Australia .

f o r It is an especial place old people , who linger o n f to a wonder ul age , and it is last but not least

Th e - a moderate place to live in . well appointed English light coach that ran from Hobart to Launceston used to be one of the pleasant features “ of the tight little island , but that has been replaced by a jolting and apparently ill - conducted

3 25 O U R N AL OF A E E A ATTE j Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

railway line . Tasmania still furnishes in the far famed Gibson blood the crack merinos of the day , from which many a famous Australian ﬂock has w drawn its success , these rams nearly al ays fetching the highest prices at the annual Sydney and Mel bourne Ram sales . Apart from t h e value to tropical Australia of ’ Tasmania as a health resort and o f Hobart s charm A as a residence , also of the value to Pastoral ustralia of th e high class merino sires pro curable from T breeders in the island , asmania has of late years

n developed immense mi ing resources , and in Mount Lyell and Mount Bisch o ﬂ possesses perhaps two of i ﬁ . n o tw th the nest tin mines in the world So that , standing the chaos o f mountains you View from the top of Mount Wellingt on (one o f the f eatures of h Hobart), you may say that there is wealth in t ose T rocks . Besides the mineral wealth asmania is so A rapidly developing , which makes her an ustralian l Cornwa l, the sportsman can in many lakes and streams of great beauty tempt trout of an enormous size with all kinds of unwonted baits . Hence a trip t o Tasmania in the n e w century will mean in one way or another attractions and interests that were hardly dreamt of thirty years ago .

3 26

O UR N AL OF A E E A A T E j Q U NSL ND SQU T R .

f o r f Sixteen Mile the ﬁrst time , and ound the sheep gave satisfactory results ; and I am glad to think that the wool - growing qualities o f the country have A never deteriorated , for the ramac country being on the fringe of the broken or desert country, is certainly remarkably fortunate in its rainfall . Con siderations which have made me reﬂect often how much better we should have done had we kept

Co r e e n a f and sold the country urther west , than h Co r e e n a . selling later on , whic we did What with buying odd lots of sheep and selecting

. w N rams , etc , I was al ays on the move in ovember , o I see it noted , we had a g od lambing , cutting T 8 7 per cent . of lambs . owards the end of the year I went down to th e Peak Downs for my 1 880 Christmas , seeing the New Year , , in at

m m we Clermont . Fro there I ade my way , Bris

“ bane , to Yandilla , where I was anxious to secure

s ome more breeding ewes . I found Frank Gore

a s as hospitable and obliging ever , and , although I had been told I should have to put on even ing

dress , he was good enough to excuse one who “ ” had Ja ck a r o e d under his uncle at Yandilla

t wen ty years before . On my Darling Downs excursions I used to hear

s : n the various ﬂock discussed Jimbour , Jondarya , m m and any others , but Yandilla was always ost

e in favour in regard to breeding ew s , if you could

get them . Fortunately, the Gores let me have a

small lot of young ewes , also some rams ,

3 28 A RAM A C AN D DA RLI NG DO WNS RE VI SI TE D and I was lucky in getting one of the young

A r rchers to take them up to Co e e n a . “ r e - It was pleasant to visit Yandilla , still fat and

” fertile , but it was only to be reached through endless fenced lanes of closed settlement , a contrast to the open pastures of over twenty years ago that I had so often ridden over . In one instance , near the

North Branch , I recollect narrowly escaping , in old

- ﬁ r e . n days , being caught by a bush Heavy stocki g had done away with that danger nowadays . How ever , Yandilla remains a very ﬁne estate , and its homestead , bowered in vines and fruit trees , , still T smiled its hospitable welcome . his station and

Eton Vale , if I mistake not , are the only estates on the Darling Downs that remain in the possession o f k the families that too them up in the forties .

Th e t o n Gores have stuck well colo ial life , and ﬁ A have not gured much in England , but Sir rthur

Hodgson , of Eton Vale , has for many years lived

to the fore in England in pleasant and well - earned Th repose . e clock seems to have stood still for

t h e some of Darling Downs pioneers , whose long , happy and useful lives should be the best advertise

ment for the settlement of that country . There is no hardship in living nowadays on the

Darling Downs ; in the ﬁrst place , the climate is

perfect there , the ways have become smooth with

w S a rail ay at your door , and port , society and social

Th e freedom are all within your reach . squatter , ’

big or small , has no butcher or bakers bills to

3 29 R N AL A E E A A T jO U OF Q U NSL ND SQ U TE R .

f o r pay , he grows his own ﬂour and meat ; sugar

and rum are grown on the coast , and the day is not far distan t when tea and coff ee will also be w Queensland gro n . Such advantages should attract to this favoured part of Southern Queensland from the old country small capitalists who have a taste f o r bree ding

e choice cattle and sheep , for which th re are handy colonial markets ; or it should tempt young f ellows who want to breed remounts f o r European cavalry and the Indian or South African markets . Live stock of every kin d thrive to perfection on the

Darling Downs in summer, and the soil is good W enough to grow oaten and heaten hay , lucerne and maize , to any required extent for the con sumption of the stock in May , June , July and

A so - e A ugust, the call d ustralian winter months , when cold winds nip up the grass on the open f plains , and the live stock do not are so well on

grass alone .

Th e picturesque country , a wide plateau of park

like appearance , is ever healthy, and the investor is still in time to pick up a good slice o f black soil land at a ﬁgure which he can make sure will ’ in ten years time , or possibly less , have doubled in value .

3 3 0

AL E A A T [ O U R N OF A Q U E NSL ND SQ U TE R .

T Harrison , Sir Richard emple , and one of the

t Ce l o n b Ro hschilds , the y eing crammed full from

A f e w lexandria to Brindisi , not a being candidates hastening to England for t h e political fray that was

to end in such disaster for the Conser vative party .

“ e Little and I lingered in Venic and Milan , being l in no hurry to reach England ti l after April . We P also took a good turn in aris , so pleasant in that

a l l o f month . I was glad to see my old friends 18 7 7 , and there seemed to be no diminution of

warmth in their W elcome . Once again the Smiths T ’ put me up at the ravellers for a month, where , if travelling ” was held to render you ﬁt for member

ship , I should certainly have qualiﬁed . I saw “ a n d Bend Or win the Derby , the even greater “ Isonomy t h e Ascot Cup . I seemed to know

e mor people , and the attractions of the season were ’ ’

inl etit ci n t en ma n e n t. certa y greater . L app e g a

sa w I paid my ﬁrst visit to Newmarket , and an American colt win the July Stak es ; I went there f rom A l Cambridge with lfred Mauds ay , a great traveller ,

f o r who , fortunately myself, had included Queensland

in his travels . I spent all the time I could amongst my “ relatives and friends in Worcestershire and Shropshire ; paid a somewhat sad visit to the P yrenees , and , choosing another line , shipped myself

Aco n ca u a via in the Orient liner g from Plymouth ,

r Th e o f the Cape f o Australia . feature the trip was ’ that we had Strauss band on board , going out to the Melbourne Exhibition ; they of course had to

3 3 2 SE C OND TRI P H OM E AN D B A CK

practise , but that practice was very good , some of

- the leaders being ﬁ r st rate violinists . By the time we go t t o Melbourne I knew by heart most of the marches and still more of the seductive waltzes that the great Viennese had ever composed . Never had

I been so imbued with music , which certainly in my

" bygone d ays had not always met the ear .

We touched and landed at St . Vincent , and our band gave the sunburnt inhabitants a treat . On 13 T Monday , th September , we arrived at Cape own , being a little over three weeks from Plymouth , and I am inclined to think that for those who have to leave England for Australia in August it is best to

via do so the Cape , as it is certainly infinitely cooler . C A Of course by the anal , den , and Colombo , the journey is brighter and more diversified , but at the A same time in July, ugust , September and October m it is infinitely hotter , and therefore uch more enervating . Beyond going to Wynberg by rail we d idn ’t see

, i much of the Cape which s nce that day , has so enormously developed with its annual export of ’ some eight millions worth of gold . It possesses

a l l evidently a good climate ; but , taking I have read of and heard of the Cape as a colony for white men who do not want to d isplace native vested A interests , give me ustralia in preference . Give me Z a land free from Matabeles , ulus , and the rinder “ ” pest , the Colossus of Rhodes and his splendid

Imperialism notwithstanding . I felt somehow no

3 3 3 O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R . desire to travel hundreds of miles by rough rail or rougher coach to get to country that had any width

. T about it I prefer Sydney to Cape own , Melbourne

B B u l u wa o to Johannesburg , and risbane to y . Let us hope that our good frozen mutton and beef will be appreciated in South Africa before long , denied as they are the supply of our splendid merinos , and even more that of our fat shorthorns .

An d a s h o r se ﬂe sh be their supply of is precarious , I g to say Australia is at h a nd to supply th a t useful

a means of tr vel and colonisation to any extent . Since I wrote the above lines which note d my

1 880 e call at the Cape in and its progress aft r , ’ England has been engaged in a wa r a l o u tr a n ce with the forces of t h e t wo Dutch South African

w n u Republics , the result of hich , though still decided , viewing the power and resources of Great T Britain , must end in the annexation of the ransvaal and the Orange Fre e State . When this takes place th e development of the se new English colonies will Open out commercial relations with t h e Australian colonies o f the very highest value to both South Africa a n d Australia ; f o r A is e ustralia , which only the sam distance from

E u r a l l the Cape as ope , can furnish the necessary

v li e stock in horses , cattle and sheep that South

A k f o r m frica will lac some time to co e , and can supply ﬂour , sugar and meat at a cheaper rate than

u o f any other so rce supply until Natal , and the newly incorporated colonies to be , have in their

3 3 4

F A E E N S L AN D A E jO URNAL O Q U S Q U TT R .

a narrow shave of missing my passage . We had

I a l l a rapid trip to Sydney , where found well , though the news from Western Queensland pointed to the good year we had had in 1 8 7 9 being followed in 1 880 by a season as dry as the last had been wet ; so there was nothing for it but to go up to

viii - the station, Brisbane and Rockhampton , and see h o w matters really were .

3 3 6

O U R N AL A E E A j OF Q U NSL ND SQ UA TTE R .

learnt that B . D . Morehead , the sitting member

for the Mitchell , had resigned his seat and had been A m placed in the upper house . number of y friends

were an xious that I should succeed him . I set the wires at work and was able in the course of a few days t o issue my address to the electors of the

Mitchell . That electorate in those days was not divided and T h reached beyond ambo to the sout , and included T A the townships of ambo , Blackall , Isisford , ramac

I a s and Muttaburra , being by far the most mportant p

toral electorate in Queensland . I became a candidate

with the co - operation and promise of support of a s number of neighbour and powerful friends , with the view of opposing the famo u s W a r r e go and Trans n continental railway scheme , which would have give a syndicate of British and foreign capitalists the exclusive right to make railways from Brisbane to G the ulf of Carpentaria on the land grant principle , and would have placed in their hands some twelve

million acres of the ﬁnest land in the colony , princi

in r pally the district I stood to epresent , in alternate blocks of ten thousand acres on bo t h sides of the line , giving the lucky holders a monopoly of the land on both sides of the line to a d epth of ﬁfteen miles ; thus placing the occupants of the back ’ country to a great extent at the syndicate s mercy . N o t only was the company to get the ten o r twelve millio n s of acres of land for building the railway , but the syndicate stipulated that the

3 3 8 ’ R E P R E S E I VTA TI ON TH E I II I T H E L L OF C . Government should afterwards purchase the rail

a t way a valuation equal to some millions sterling . Besides which it was shown later on by the

’ company s articles of association , registered in

London , that the company would not only hold the land , but it would exercise supreme control over everybody that settled upon it . It was a t scheme , in fact , for setting up an independen h sovereignty in the eart of Queensland , according to which the foreign capitalists concerned in it . might do everything in its own territory but coi n money , and in all trade defy competition . T his was a bold and dangerous stroke , which b pu lic and legislative opinion fortunately defeated . I forget h o w much the distinguished promoters of the scheme were to have netted per man , had the venture succeeded , but it stood at a very big

i in W F e l d . sum . General g and Mr atson , a civil engineer of note , took a surveying trip from

Charleville to Point Parker , in the Gulf, and their report of the excellence of the co u n t r v to be traversed mad e the proposals of the syndicate look still more exacting .

L . . M . C Th . e Hon George King , of Gowrie ,

a formerly Treasurer of Messrs . S muel ﬁ Grif ths , and others in the Q ueensland Parliament , and the authors of a certai n powerful yellow

r o h pamphlet , ruthlessly exposed the p ject , whic

n b u t caused in tense excit ement in th e c o lo y . Not that a trans - continent a l line would have be e n a

3 3 9 O U N AL A E E A A T E j R OF Q U NSL ND SQ U T R .

good thing for Queensland , if placed on the same

footing as the other Government lines , and built ,

as the Queensland railways can now be built , over

the western plains , that is at less than a

n mile all told , includi g the rolling stock . I think most colonists with the knowled ge of

’ the colony s wants have advocated the tying up ,

so to speak , of the western termini of the present l main trunk ines of Queensland at Charleville ,

n Lo greach and Hughenden , or Winton on to Clon

curry , and thence to some Gulf port by a trans

continental line , the limits of which would be

c 8 00 m t h e overed by some iles of railway , at cost

of under two millions and a half, that line of

’ country o ﬂe r in g no engineering difﬁ culties what

Th e ever . reader may see at a glance on the map that is annexed to this chapter the lines

u . to be connected by s ch a railway I contend , in ’ fact , that Queensland s future cannot be properly

developed without such a railway , or her wool

and meat , and mineral resources properly tapped

without it ; also that such a line , the cost of which is a bagatelle compared to the interests

involved , should have taken the precedence over the railway lines recently built to S kirt the eastern

coast alongside water carriage .

n u Electioneeri g in Q eensland , and especially in

the Mitchell , in the hot months of January and

February , is a rough game ; but with good buggy

horses , eagerly lent , with hospitable Barcoo stations

3 40

I V L A TTE jO U R N AL OF A Q U E E S AN D SQ U R . see the polling through in my adversary ’s country whilst he laid siege to my end of the constituency ; so I saw the polling through at the township of

O A Blackall , and my pponent at ramac . Every thing o n both sides to secure the victory was

w u done itho t acerbity , and with a good deal of good humour ; b u t the second week of February sa w me elected by a substantial majority , my

e - opponent , a w ll known Barcoo squatter , being an f old friend and very good ellow.

3 42 R C H APT E X X I X .

A A T AN D A P RLI MEN L ND LAWS .

THE B I G W E T - AN D R AZ I N G S G F AR M S .

WHE N all wa s over I felt very proud at representing the largest pastoral constituency in broad Queens

land , though I was fully aware that in the state of Th parties it involved great responsibilities . e House did not meet til l July of that year when I

took my seat in a House that numbered ﬁ f ty- ﬁ ve

members , with a number of whom I had old

personal acq uaintance .

Th e records of Hansard show that , although Members Of Parliament in Queensland were n o t paid

n o w in those days , as they are , I did not eat the

bread of idleness . I strongly opposed the sale of large blocks of land on Peak Downs by the

1 3 0 . Government at an acre , a low value for deep

black soil land , and I am glad to think I was right

in my deduction , for it seems more than probable that the Government will have to buy back l a rg e t areas on Peak Downs for agricultural settlemen , in the same way that they h ave fo und them selve s

3 43 O U R N AL OF A E E A A TTE j Q U NSL ND SQ U R.

compell ed to do further south on the Darling D owns . Fresh from a close acquaintance with the pastoral

ch ie ﬂ m districts v concerned , I tabled a otion for railway extensions to the chief pastoral centres of

the colony , reviewing exhaustively the development that was taking place in them and the capital they 3 n . 3 5 . 78 were attracti g (Hansard , vol , pp This wa s chieﬂy with the view of proving that the

trans - continent al line that had been so much talked abo u t could well and safely be undertaken by the

Colony with loan funds . I gave a useful list of t h e principal pastoral

holdings in my district , the carrying capacity of which amounted to six millions of sheep , which at

n this dista ce of time , nearly twenty years , it will . not

in exten so be uninteresting to quote , as these

in d capabilities have most instances been realize , and in some instances exceeded .

L I S T OF R U N S I N THE M I TCHE L L E L E CTOR ATE AN D THE I R

S HE E P- CAR R Y I N G CAPACI TY (188 1)

Tambo S t at ion E vesham m h rn K n E n n iskill en S t a f o r d a & at a d ra E ast Darr Ho me Cr eek B arcald i n e M alve r n Hills M a n e r o o B ime r a h M a n er o o E ast W e s t la n d s E mmet Dow n s L ist ow e l R u t hv e n B e a co n sﬁ e l d Cor e lla Came ron Dow n s a n d L a m Coron a me r mo o r L orn e t n d 200 000 Por la , I sis Down s Carri ed forward Avi n gt on

3 44

R N A L E E A A T E jO U OF A Q U NSL ND SQ U T R .

p r incipal and costly sheep - ca r r ymg I mprovements d m of the station , that amount to hun reds of iles of six - wired sheep -proof fencing ; together with water improvements for rendering evenly available

o u r the country at y disposal , whether these are

t e n the artesian bores , a discovery of the last years

only and , as I have before said , only available in

- certain portions of the pastoral areas , or large

m a reservoirs , com only c lled dams , these being large excavations generally at the foot o f a natural water hole in the creek and which back up t h e creek in some instances for miles add to this drafting yards ’ b u n d r r and o a v iders huts and paddocks . There are in fact instances in the properties of

which the list has here been given , in which up to

i s this per od as much as 5 . per acre had been ex ’ pended in tenants improvements . Roughly speaking therefore and reckoning the sheep carrying ca pa cit v of the western country at two acres for every sheep , the extent of the country grazed b y six millions of sheep in this one district would be twelve million

an d 5 8 . a acres , if per cre represented the cost of the improvements , the amount spent by the squatters of this one district o n land only leased to them by the at Government , and th on a very precarious tenure , would amount and I daresay does a mount to over m three illions sterling .

Queensland carries some twenty to twenty - four millions of sheep , and the above calculations can be pretty well relied on as an average one for the whole

3 46 A I A M E T AN D A L A P RL N L ND I VS .

im lot , that is , as regards the average cost of the

r o v e me n t s p per head of sheep , but as regards quality of country a good many of these twenty - four millions

- r - of sheep , possibly one thi d to one half, would be carried on country not so heavily grassed as the

Mitchell and Gregory districts , that is on country

s that would take , perhap , four or ﬁve acres to graze one sheep , season by season ; in this latter case , of

a h course , the cost of improvements would not re c

s r 5 . an ac e .

w e u d Ho ever , th se huge ﬁg res must not aunt the young English reader who ma y think of trying his luck in Queensland , for he has a paternal Govern

n me t to deal with , which deals more leniently with the newcomer than it has done wi t h either the pioneer holder , or the one to whom the pioneer has

As possibly sold his run at a proﬁt . mentioned in the political chapter of these reminiscences the 1 868 pastoral lessee very nearly came to grief in , and the Government gave him a long lease on a

n slidi g sca l e of rent in 1 8 69 . Wh en the expiry of

’ w - the t enty one years lease was drawing near , the A Government took power to resume , by cts passed

1 8 8 41 8 8 6 - in , , in some cases one half, in some one

- e third , and others one fourth of these leas holds in

” t h e so - s w r called unsettled di tricts , hich graze fou ﬁ f t h s of t h e sheep of the col ony ; and these re s um e d a re a s are. now being gradually abs o rbed by a n e w a s a o s e r e r cl s of p st ralist call d g azing farm s , in blocks n o t exceed i n g twe nty thousand a c r es f o r O U R N AL A E E L A D ATTE j OF Q U NS N SQ U R .

- twenty one years , at an initial rent of a halfpenny

per acre per annum. Before he can d ispose of his

grazing farm , the tenant must fence it in and he

must be provided with capital to do so , as also to

stock his grazing farm with , and of course , he must

be able to water it to its required capacity, for the

u more he can distrib te the water on his holding, the m ore sheep he can carry upon it . These grazing f a rms have become the great d pastoral attraction of Queenslan , being open to young men of moderate capital who can work their farm with very few hands , and lead a life that is absolutely healthy , chieﬂy on horseback , and one which does n o t necessitat e much manual or e xh a u s tive labour . He can live as he likes , very comfort

o r ably otherwise according to his means , and this new race of pastoralists are no doubt becoming a municipal and will become eventually a legislative

w th e v po er in the land . Pity it is that Go ernment

of the day , in their desire . to break up big holdings and prevent monopolies , wrought grave inj ustice to the lessees of properties from which these r e su mp tions were made ; for not only did th ey debar t h e old occupier from tendering in the otherwise open tender for any of t h e grazing farms resumed from his holding, but they prevented him from purchasing that farm in the otherwise open market when the fulﬁlled co n d itio n s o f fencing enabled the owner to

’ ﬂ r T f t h e o e it for sale . his is a grave law in statute book of Queensland , and the sooner it is expunged

3 48

P AR L I AM E I VT AN D L A AVD L A I V S .

w the better it ill be for the credit of the colony , for t it means special legislation against capi al , and Queensland has yet to learn whether she can do without t h e capital that has so lavishly and co n ﬁd in gl y been poured into her lap by the investors of

Great Britain . Otherwise the Grazing Farms Act is a progressive

n and useful measure , for viewi g the fact that the western plains of Queenslan d have some ten feet of rich soil , and that its native grasses teem with

' t h a t mu ch nourishment , also of it can be watered by artesian supply , at any rate for stock , it does not require much imagination to people it in coming years , with ﬂourishing farmers who can do most of

a n d the work on their holdings with their boys , send their d aughters in the family buggy to the neigh

o u r in b g State school . Such grazing farms pave the way , at no very distant date , for smaller holdings growing endless crops of wheat and maize ; for the breaking up of the big stations now taking place to introduce the smaller lessee , means surely , in course t of time , that the twen y thousand acre grazing farm will in its tu rn be considered a monopoly and fall a prey to dismemberment . W e shall not be there to see , but there is much to favour the reflection that thirty years hence Longreach may be the

Chicago of Queensland , collecting the agricultural produce of the millions of acres of rich soil which surround it and which are so far only used for g r azing purposes .

vh v s O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

As the case now stands most of the artesian bores that have b e en sunk in Queensland have

been put down by private enterprise , and not by

the Government , and it is to be hoped that this

generous expenditure , meaning often many thousands

of pounds for one bore , may meet with recognition

from the Legislature when the old leases , or rather

u what remain of them , are being f rther dealt with . Th e Government will be a wise one that respects the good faith of long- su ﬂe r in g tenants that u n gr u d g in gl y have witnessed the partition of their leaseholds at a time when the burden of great commercial changes in the value of their produce pressed

heavily upon them , and rendered the reduction of

their holdings ruinously inopportune . This depression in pastoral proﬁts seems to have

a n d cowed the lessees , , in a great measure , kept them out of the political ﬁeld when they should in Parliament have fought for their rights but in 18 8 ] the pastoral interests of Queensland were still r e pr e sented in the Legislative Assembly by some twenty

fi f t - fi ve members out of y , not a great proportion for What is admitted as the dominant interest of the w f colony . It ould be di ficult now , I understand , to

ﬁnd a dozen squatters o u t of the seventy- two mem

t A b a n d bers of the present Legisla ive ssem ly , unless pa s toralists come forward to ﬁght for their fair

An rights , what can they expect old Queenslander ’ to n is led exclaim , Where are the so s of Queensland s e arly pioneers ? Youths of culture and good train

3 5 2

C H APTE R xxx.

” TH E A TT T C L E I N D U S R Y .

‘ o f m F OR the beneﬁt of any y readers who may. cast their eyes towards Queenslan d as a ﬁeld for investment , I may say a few words on the cattle s industry of Queensland , as that colony pos esses more horned st ock than all the other Australian

u n colonies put together , and it is not n atural to suppose that , as these colonies grow up and the southern colonies devote themselves more a n d more s W to agriculture , Queen land with her not holly stocked pastures will continue to furn ish them with beef When I mention that fat cattle are fetching at the

s £ 10 £ 12 A pre ent moment to in Western ustralia , £8 £ 10 A m to in South ustralia , the same and ore

£5 £8 N ew in Victoria , and to in South Wales , and £3 £4 only to in Queensland , and that most of the A mouths are in the southern part of ustralia, there is every encouragement for the Queensland grower

e in supplying the south rn markets , apart from feed ing the many meat- freezing and meat-preserv ing factories that ha ve been established on the eastern

3 5 4

O U R N A L - OF A E E N AN A TT j Q U SL D SQ U E R .

north alon g the sea coast in the Broad Sound and Townsville district and north of that up to Cape

a York Peninsul , the settlement is chieﬂy that of

a T c ttle stations . hence , turning westward to the

Gulf country , there exists in the watersheds of the Mitchell , Gilbert , Flinders , Saxby , Leichardt , and

Gregory shedding into the Gulf of Carpentaria , unbounded scope for cattle runs ; most stations in that region being not more than half stocked . I may here quote what I wrote on the subject of the Gulf country for cattle when the tick disease T broke out there a few years ago . his scourge has ,

a n d like many other scourges , swept by , the Gulf country has resumed its old state “ Th e country embraced in the watersheds of the

Gulf of Carpentaria , watered by the Flinders and its tributaries , also the Leichardt , Saxby and Gregory , Au comprises the ﬁnest cattle country in stralia , and

t h e probably in world , the heads of the Flinders a ﬂo r d in g also a large tract of magniﬁcent sheep

Th e country . large area under notice carries already some million head of cattle , and is only partly

‘ stocked ; the bulk of it consists of large plains

- t W and lightly imbered countr y , densely grassed ith

Mitchell and other n utritious and hardy grasses . It is watered beyond the average of Queensland

e w country, and droughts are less frequ nt , o ing to t h e regular tropical rains which the Gulf country T enjoys . here has been so far no serious attempt ( l 8 98 ) to export from either No r ma n t o n or

3 5 8 THE CA TT E I T L ND US R Y. w ’ Burketo n , the two Gulf ports , a tithe of the meat , tallow , and other products which could be exported from works conceived with due regard to the extent s v of the production , cattle owner ha ing for years past been content either to despatch their bullocks as stores to southern markets , an expensive and tedious process , which has left but a poor margin

o r ma n t o n of proﬁt , or to boil down their fats at the N

- w and Burketown boiling do n establishments , which t are primitive , and make no at empts to save the nourishing portion of the beast in the shape of

Th e e xtract . various meat works at Townsville and Bowen on t h e eastern coast certainly f m 400 8 00 af ord an outlet , but driving fro to k miles knoc s the condition out of the cattle , and the Gulf herds must have some good works of their own to depend upon to do anything like

‘ j ustice to their growing produce . Neither Burke town nor Normanton are ports from which an e xport of frozen meat can j ust now be tackled

o f with success , until , at least , the shallows the

Norman and Burke have been dealt with . But t here are means of adding extract of meat and o t ther bye products , and reatment of animal manure ,

. t o etc , the proﬁts derived from boiling only , which the present establishments have not sought and which it is n o w absolutely necessary t o add in order to obtain anything like the full

Th e value of a beast . conditions of cattle growing

in the Gulf are most advantageous . Climatic con

3 5 9 N A OF A E E A S U A TTE R jO UR L QU NSL ND Q .

d itio n s are not encouraging to close settlement . Th e leaseholder can therefore reckon upon a long

enjoyment of his lease at a fairly cheap rental . Th e country is not troubled with railways or

townships , and the squatter must be content for some time to come to lead a primitive life ; on

the other hand , he can work on a large scale

Th e for little money . great fall in the value of cattle has caused much ﬁnancial difﬁ culty in these

districts , but it is hoped the worst is over and a

n e w f o r era is opening the cattle owners , who must

surely soon see better times . I believe the tick disease that has recently developed itself in some of the lower portions of the Gulf seaboard to be m a te porary plague only , which a good season or

Th e two will dispel . Government , however, have

quarantined the Gul f country from the twenty - ﬁ r st l paral el of latitude northwards , preventing any cattle north of that line f rom travelling south T of it on pain of conﬁscation . his will throw t h e Gulf cattle owners more on their own local

v resources than e er , preventing the export of

their store cattle south . I am not sure that in a

young and energetic community , which the Gulf t people certainly are , his will not turn out a good stimulant to them to make use of their o wn northern ports instead of sendin g everythin g to the eastern

o r ma n t o n coast , forgetting that Burketown and N are nearer the home markets by many days ’ sail than T T . o R ockhampton , Bowen , or ownsville capitalists

3 60

O U R - E A A TTE j N AL OF A Q UE NSL ND SQ U R .

t v To th e iso u t h t s grea ly in alue . the cattle proper ie for an extensive radius round Brisban e have the beneﬁt Of the Queensland Meat and Export ” Com ’ a n s o h x e p y works bel w Brisbane , whic are e t nsive factories that freeze beef and mutton on a large scale in communication ' with the great Southern w t Rail ay line to Charleville . A the Queensland Export Company ’s works they also preserve meat in other shapes and produce extract of meat and tallow from any stock that is not quite prime enough for freezing , all the cattle slaughtered being subj ected to rigid veterinary inspection . Besides these works there a re also n ear Brisbane s s . B the canning works of the Me srs ayne , and on the Darling Downs there are preserving works at

x Oakey Creek , so that the e treme south of the

in c u colony , addition to the meat ons mption of the capital with its population , is perhaps

- over provided with outlets .

Th e Wide Bay , Burnett and Leichardt districts have factories at Gladstone and Rockhampton ; below the latter town the important Fitzroy meat

a works deal not only with the co st cattle , but with western fat stock coming down by the Central w 400 Line , hich taps the country for over miles ; these works deal with every branch of meat freezing , preserving and extract . Further north there are well - established f actories at : Broad Sound a n d T u Bowen ; whilst at ownsville , the largest Q eensland

h t h e port nort of Rockhampton , if not of Brisbane ,

3 62 T I ND US R Y . branch factory of the Queensland Meat Export and A A Co . gency , and the lligator Creek Meat Works , treat not only the fat cattle within those coast d districts , but also the stock brought own from the t western plains by the Nor hern Railway , which reaches inland to Winton over 3 00 miles . Besides these large coast meat works there are boiling down and meat e xtract works at various inland western centres , such as Charleville , Barcal dine , Longreach and Hughenden . In the Gulf of Carpentaria boiling down and extract works have

' been st a r t e d a t No r ma n t o n and Burketown .

So the means of disposing of surplus stock , though exercised at these various works last year o n ly to the extent of a million of sheep and over a fﬁ quarter of a million of cattle , are quite su cient for

Th e the supply of fat stock in a normal season . h l production of extract of meat , w ich is virtua ly

th e A the nourishing part of meat , has saved ustralia from the great boiling down waste of old days , and

thereby redeemed an almost criminal action . Meat

a n o w r extr ct is p epared everywhere , and ﬁnds its market under vario u s nomenclatures in every kitchen of the civilized world , and it is a good thing to carry into the uncivilised world also , for no doubt

‘ w wh o it ill nourish many a future explorer , will ﬁ make it a part of his out t .

Th e o f u owner a Q eensland cattle station , there

f r ore , need not fea his market ; there are outlets

o f all round him , and at the present prices such

3 63 A OF A E E A UA TTE R jO URN L Q U NSL ND S Q .

properties they offer undoubtedly the best prospect s of a paying investment for any young man with fair T capital who does not mind work . h e tick has w temporarily frightened o ners and buyers , hence the downfall in prices but that will not last , and there will be the usual Australian rebound . Cattle station life with a good homestead , a garden , a gun b and some good horses and kangaroo dogs , is y no means a bad existence , especially if the squatter is married and his wife has sisters , and the neighbour hood has neighbours of the right kind , which it At most often has . any rate , the life is worth the

f o r try , and the time is a good one investment , for you know your worst . You may , I believe , buy 2 many a good cattle run in Queensland for 05 . to

3 s . s 0 60 . a head , and get from your fat bullocks at the present moment , with better prices in prospect . Queensland besides has a number o f other prospects if any one of them fails . Many a cattle owner has made his little pile at Charters Towers or

‘ the Gympie mines , and fresh mineral prospects are always opening , for is he not in the land of Mount

- n Morgan and the worked out Ca oona , where gold in millions has been found in the most unlikely spots , and under what many reckoned to be almost geological impossibilities ?

3 64

O U R N A L OF A E E A A TTE j Q U NSL ND SQU R .

we progress of a property held large interests in ,

situate on the Georgina River , in the extreme north west o f Queensland and on the border of the

northern territory of South Australia . Th e journey I proposed to make to the extreme west o f Queensland was t o take me through the C mineral district and township of the loncurry , and as that district in the important matter of mines and

minerals , and the Wills , Burke and Georgina rivers and their tributaries lying to the west and south west o f the Cloncurry in the matter of pastoral

e an s resources , will repr sent some day immen e addi e tion to the exports of Qu ensland , I propose to dwell brieﬂy on the extent and quality of the mines and pastures of this undeveloped land of promise . I had as companion on my expedition a charming

R . N . captain , brother to the manager of our station,

0. and we journeyed very pleasantly together by P . and

via M again elbourne , Sydney and Brisbane , where r l we only made sho t but a greeab e stays . From T Brisbane we went as far as ownsville by steamer , T t and thence took rail to Charters owers , the grea

e mining c ntre of Northern Queensland , and from there on to the terminus of the Northern Railway r at Hughenden , on the edge of the g eat western ’ plains , from which we were to take Cobb s coach t o e r the Cloncurry , wh re a buggy and horses f om the Georgina were to await us . Hughenden station had been taken up in the t d sixties by hat goo settler , Robert Gray , and named

3 66 C C Y A N D TH E LON URR G ULF.

’ t h e h Hughenden after English Hughenden , t at had ’ Th belonged to Gray s family . e township a dozen years ago was an e xtremely noisy a n d bustl ing - little a ﬁ in o pl ce , being the centre of a large traf c w ol for London a n d fat stock for Townsville that aggregated at the terminus of the Northern Railway . This line

“ n o n n o t has si ce g ne on to Winto , doubt to Rober

’ e Gray s happy r lief, and has the name of being the i best paying ra lwayline in Queensland . Th e country we had traversed between Townsville and Hughenden did not go through the best of

s wa s t a n d pa toral country ; it only ﬁt for ca tle ,

' u n much of it rough at that , but then it was u — T doubtedly a riferous Charters owers , where we spent a night and had a good look at some of the m deep level quartz ines , to wit . From Hughenden we took coach across th e big black soil plains following t h e heads of the Flinders

watershed , and travelled through lightly stocked and n richly grassed plains to Richmond Downs , and the ce 200 on to Cloncurry , a distance in all of over miles

from Hughenden , all of which was beautiful open

sheep country , and most of it has proved since to

be within the cretaceous or artesian area , such

stations as Richmond Downs and Cambridge Downs ,

o n a big sheep property that adj ins it , then havi g been developed to their large grazing capabilities by numerous artesian bores giving fl ows of from

to gallons of water a day , and t none of them having a greater depth than fee .

3 67 O U R N A L OF A A T E j Q UEENSLAND SQ U T R .

We had left Hughenden at daylight , and it took

r t h e m us three days to reach the Cloncu ry , onotony of our journey across these huge grassy plains being

s varied by bagging an occasional bu tard , the Captain being a dead shot with either gun or riﬂe . As we neared the Cloncurry the plains ceased , and the country got disturbed and gave geological signs of being both auriferous and cu pif e r o u s

A w I i i dozen years ago hen twice v s ted it , Clon curry was a small township with a couple of inns , a

- u . I bank , hospital, court house and lock p presume it is much the same now , for Cloncurry and its

' district a r e st il l waiting for that long promised and o nce voted railway which the strong political interest o f Eastern Queensland has always managed to block . For d oes not a railway from the mineral and pastoral districts of Cloncurry to the gulf port of N o r ma n t o n mean a new and northern Queensland outlet to ’ China , Japan, Batavia and Europe , with a week s shorter journey to reckon with ? Cloncurry has suffered ungrudgingly from this ’ neglect e ver since Ernest Henry s discovery of the big Cloncurry C opper mine some twenty - ﬁ ve years ago , which ﬁrst brought the district into I l notice and created the township . we l remember

Ernest Henry riding over to Copperﬁeld , near

Clermont , after the discovery of the lode and looking

W o l f a n u me up at g, with his pack bags f ll of copper

e specimens , some of which w re virgin copper , which he was anxious to get tested at our neigh

3 68

O U R N AL A U E E N S L AJVD A TTE j OF Q SQ U R.

inherently precious of the metals , is copper , the wonderfu l deposits of which spread over the enor

2 C mous area of 00 miles . Most of the opper lodes m m contain ore or less gold , whilst any of them are not only extremely rich in high class ores , such as red oxide and green carbonates , malachite

W in and grey ores , but are of very great idth , rang g 3 0 40 from a few feet up to feet , feet , and even Th 5 0 . e C feet virgin opper, as if it was smelted , shows freely th rough some of the ore . A remark able feature o f some of the lodes is the very large outcrops they display , composed of huge

” boulders and masses of rich copper ores .

- Mr . . . R L Jack , the late well known Queensland

Government geologist , speaks of one of these great “ ” Ar l l a lodes , the gy , owned by the company proposing to build the railway in following terms “ I venture to assert that any attempt at a de scription of this wonderful property must needs fail to give a full estimate of its richness and extent .

Th e u e 5 0 t o tcrop rises to a h ight of nearly fee , and carrie s with it an immense lode of high per

centage ores throughout its entire length . It is understood that there is abundance of iron

ca l ce a r s and p to act as ﬂux , and also suitable clay to make ﬁre bricks , but there is a lack of cheap

w n . fuel , hich can only be obtai ed by a railway I have stood myself at Cloncurry on the outcrop

i n of the old or ginal forsaken mine , and have see the light of the evening sun glittering on t h e

3 70 C C Y A N D TH E L LON URR G U F .

metallic ore of a conical hill , a short distance from I the township , which was told was a mass of iron Th ore of very high percentage . e cabbages grown ’ in the Ch in a men s gardens by the creek at Clon curry are of a very vivid green , owing to the if cu p e r o u s nature of the soil . Such are the future mineral attrac t ions of Clon curry . As we go along I will deal with the pastoral resources of the country on the watersheds of

u r v the Wills and B rke and Geo gina , the de elop ment of which awaits this railway to the Gulf. Vast plains clothed with the richest gr asses and h M those of fattening descriptions , suc as the itchell ,

Barley and Flinders grasses , which stand hard seasons and put the live stock in condition to stand the long drives to market .

Th e Captain and myself and our manager , who me t us , did not delay long in Cloncurry, but started to drive the 1 40 miles that divided us from Caran

- dotta on the Georgina , which we did in three easy

Th e days . ﬁrst ﬁfty miles of the road was through

f - very auri erous looking country , after which we came k on to the rich plains of Moonah Cree , which seemed unbounded in their extent and stretched like a sea

a r a n d t t a before us . On arrival at C o we were treated to comfortable beds in a good stone house w with a ten feet ide verandah round it , and ate about the best corned beef for dinner that we thought we had ever taste d .

3 7 1 ’O U E N A L A E E A D A TTE J OF Q U NSL N SQ U R .

Ca r a n d o t t a owned a double frontage of 5 5 miles

to the Georgina River , and it did not lack water

for that distance in the biggest drought , for there

were plenty of permanent waterholes in the river of

more than a mile in length , Lake Buchanan being over four miles and the W o k a b a h hole over 14

miles in length , this last probably the largest natural

- wa t er hole in Western Queensland . These holes ﬁ T teemed with sh and wild fowl . here was no

w o ff natural ater the river that lasted any time , but 10 water in wells was procurable at about 0 feet . Artesian boring had been tried without success up to

feet only . Th e country held by the syndicate that owned the

leases of the property was over square miles , or n e a r l v three millions of acres in extent ; it was

ﬁ r st - all class , being undulating plains of black or chocolate loam covered in average seasons with the best fattening grasses of the western country and

a n d ‘ sma l l plenty of saltbush big to boot , so that

sheep throve remarkably well and grew ﬁne wool . Th e annual rainfall for the seven or eight years we grazed it only amounted however to a little over ten

t h e inches , or less than half that of country we had held at Aramac ; still the grasses on Ca r a n d o t t a had remarkably sustaining qualities . We should not have kept sheep on the country h a d we not pinned our faith upon the vote that had been passed for the construction of the railway from Normanton to the

Cloncurry , and when that vote and promise were

3 72

0 U R N /1L OF A U E E N S L AN D S U A TTE [ Q Q R .

can be held against these droughts . It means a big business to provide hay for thousands and thousands of sheep , but it is to be done , and it is a wonder that up to the last f e w years this particular remedy for serious loss by drought has been so much neglected . T alk of cruelty to animals on a large scale , what can compare to the slow lingering d eath of thousands of sheep and cattle which their owners have called into existence ? Th e Georgina was formerly called the Herbert ” w River , but place aux dames was after ards shown , and the Herbert was rechristened the Georgina , after

’ u Governor Kennedy s da ghter , in the same way that

the Diamantina , another big western Queensland

watercourse , was given the Christian name of Lady T Bowen . hese rivers , it must be well understood , big a s fl im they are in ood t e , are mostly dry w ater c ourses wit h occasional water - holes big and small ;

none of them run permanently even at their so - called

sources . Th e Georgina takes its head under B a r k l a ys table

1 3 0 l Ca r a n d o t t a land , about mi es north of ; but its

main tributaries , the Rankin and the Lorne , are A within the northern territory of South ustralia , the Georgina taking a bend of some 3 0 miles into that

Ca r a n d o t t a w . colony above , here the Rankin joins it When this ﬁne country on the Georgina attracted

attention twenty years ago , the Government of South Australia put up to auction the leases of a large tract of country on the watersheds of the Rankin

3 74

’O U R N E Y A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

A is equal to anything in ustralia , the yearly rainfall small , though it increases as it gets near the coast , but in no case is the fall too small to debar pastoral settlement absolutely ; there is also this to be said , th at prices of produce and stock with the commence ment of the twentieth century are distinctly showing a return to the prices that ﬁrst induced the settle ment of this country . We spent most of the month of July in inspecting

Ca r a n d o t t a of , the temperature this Queensland mid winter month so far inl and being perfect ; and h alt ough the season was undoubtedly dry , and the

th e only drawback was the dread of bush ﬁres , all

n live stock was in excellent conditio . At the time of our visit Ca r a n d o t t a carried on not a large portion o f its area something under Th 800 an d . e sheep , horses , cattle sheep were kept on the south - eastern portion of the run , where the country was of the richest description and water was obtainable well back from the river by sinking well s ; there it was merely a question of f encing in more country and sinking more wells a s

Th e you wanted room for the increase . sheep were in capital order and the lambs well grown ; the wool a bit wanting in yolk , still dense enough for all purposes . Th e cattle were carried on the north - western side of the property , the cattle station being not very far l from our then so itary township on the Georgina , h U . T e randangie herd , which had always had a C C Y A JVD T E L ON URR H G ULF.

good foundation , were especially satisfactory in con I dition and quality , and was not sorry to be present at the start of a very ﬁne mob of bullocks

. T I for the Sydney market hey were drawn out ,

h I recollect , w en inspected them quite in regimental array on a big plain , where they were licking up the dainty Flinders grass , the succulent shoots of which had dried up and lay scattered on the ground . " T A . las however , for the results his ﬁne mob ,

ﬁ ve after a j ourney of four or months , were sold on the boundary of Victoria at a price which , expenses 7 d l 1 s . pai , on y netted . a head So much for the Th . e price of store cattle at that period horses , f d though lat in their feet , had developed won erful size and bone , the draught stock being especially massive ; I attributed their growth to the rich saline

a d l ibitu m pastures since their foaling, and their bone a good d eal to the limestone ridges they frequented not far back from the river frontage . So far as the condition and well- doing of the live stock went , therefore , the Georgina country left nothing to be desired , and compared favourably , with any I had ever seen in that respect ; all that it wanted was an easier rate of carriage to port and better prices for produce ; as far as the country went its unstinted breadth and richness communi ca t e d itself to all the stock .

' \Ve wound up our stay on the Georgina by a

a t camp Roxborough , the station below us , and a ’ “ d ay s shooting and ﬁshing at the big W o k a ba h

3 79 A A E E A A jO URN L OE Q U NSL ND S Q U TTE E .

waterhole , where mussels for bait were in plenty , and good fat bream and yellow - bellies could be pulled Th up nearly as fast as the line was thrown in . e Captain and his brother did capital execution on the ducks , which were driven by the black boys ,

and flew up and down the big water in large mobs .

e n d y We drove back at the of July to Cloncurr , the same way we had come , camping a night at

Rochdale with a detachment of the native police . I was sorry to part at Cloncurry with the gallant

Captain , whose leave was drawing to an end and

viti who had made up his mind to return direct , T i u I ownsv lle , to E rope , whilst continued my more adventurous trip down the Leichardt , where we had

N o r ma n t o n . another cattle property, and so on to Before I left Cloncurry I was glad to renew my I acquaintance with Ernest Henry . got also some twenty ounces of rough shotty gold , as specimens o f o l d ﬁ el d the production of the g , from a lot of a thousand ounces the bank manager had bought up “ in the past six months from fossickers round the

To township . look at that gold was undoubtedly to “ " believe there was more where that came from , yet the Cloncurry as a go l d ﬁ el d has so far been a failure ; it is bound , however , to do better with

its copper . Our manager had “ started me for the Gulf with

me a good outﬁt , giving his buggy with several

- changes of horses , a good all round man and a black boy to pilot me along the little used track

3 8 0

O U E N A L A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R . lost a good draught mare from the attack of an

- alligator , that had bitten her wind pipe out as she ’ was grazing close to the water s edge . At Floraville I left the Leichardt and it s splendid l grass and water , and trave led a couple of days f across lat and uninteresting marine plains , which brought me to Normanton , the small capital of the

Gulf country . I was glad to ge t there without accident or breaking a strap over the rough roads and bad h crossings t at distinguish the Gulf country . Th e road I followed down the Leichardt is not pr e su m ably the one destined to be taken by the Cloncurry

w wa s I rail ay line , but if it , saw no engineering

fﬁ I t h e di culties to get over, and understand

v sur eyed line is much the same .

o r ma n t o n N , a dozen years ago , was a well laid out town , with , however , only an odd house here and th ere to mark its broad streets . It has been built

- on a well drained ironstone ridge , at a point of the tortuous Norman River , where the tide rises to a sufﬁ cient height to ensure its navigation by small craft ; it is no better or no worse than Brisbane and Rockhampton before their river approaches were dredged out , and a good deal better than T ownsville , which has swallowed a million of money and is still wanting a proper harbour . m Since y visit there , Normanton has got a

Th e - a railway , but not the one it wanted . half million that was voted for the Cloncurry line still

3 82 C L C Y AN D THE ON URR GULF .

I stands , understand , to the credit of that vote , but as a matter of fact the money itself was really spent

r o l d ﬁ el d I on the line to the C oydon g , which have n o t I seen and therefore cannot describe , nor can speak personally of the growth of Normanton since d I the Croy on Railway was built , but should say that it must be considerable .

I o my 7 th A 18 8 8 n te by diary that on ugust , , the projected Cloncurry railway had so far been commenced at Normanton that , as an old parlia

me n t a r ia n I . w , was asked to accompany Mr Fre on an e n gine from the river wharf some four or ﬁve miles over the new line , and examine the patent steel sleepers Mr . Engineer Phillips had introduced , and which seemed serviceable and useful in a country where the white ant is destructive to wooden sleepers , or indeed to woodwork of any description .

As a Gulf outlet for the Queensland trans - conti n e n t a l w line , of which the inland termini ill be

Cloncurry , Winton , Longreach and Charleville , Normanton is certain to play an important part

n in the roll of Queensland ports . Once the mi eral resources of the Cloncurry , and the pastoral wealth of the country to the east , south and west of it , are tapped by a railroad , the fortunes of that part of Queenslan d are bound to be as well assured as those w of its eastern coast , hich has hitherto taken such good care of itself. Afte r a useful stay of a week in Normanton I

3 8 3 0 A L OF A E E A A TTE / URN Q U NSL ND S Q U R .

V T s s icto r ia. shipped myself in the . . to hursday Island , I M where looked up my old friend , Hugh ilman l the then resident of this important cal ing place , and thence I steamed down the Queensland coast to m Brisbane , having as one of y travelling companions

the Government geologist , Mr . R . L . Jack , with whom ’ the rapid development of Queensland s mining r e

sources will ever be intimately connected . From T hursday Island to Brisbane , travelling in the calm ,

- d bright winter of semi tropical Queenslan , and T touching at Cooktown , Cairns , ownsville , Bowen ,

n Mackay and Rockhampto , I felt proud of being an old Queenslander and of being still concerned in the settlement of a colony the resources of which

are so varied and progressive . t On my return to Brisbane , and before I lef it , a number of friends and other colonists interested in the construction of the Cloncurry Railway secured an interview with the the n Minister of Railways

(the Hon . H . M . Nelson) to urge the commencement of an undertaking so obviously fa vourable to the welfare of the country . Every reasonable argument

was used by the deputation , and we were told in t reply hat we had made out a fair case , and that our request would be placed in a favourable light

Th e before the Cabinet . chief reason given by the Minister against our petition was the fearful amount of liabilities the Ministry then in power had in h er it e d from their predecessors , which was , to say “ th e least of it , a robbing Peter to pay Paul

3 84

C H APT E R X X X I I .

A T T 1 8 93 - 1 8 94TO A A SHOR VISI IN LB NY ,

RT A L A , U PE H, DE IDE MELBO RNE , SYDNEY,

BRIS BANE .

AL THOU GH the year 1 892had been a droughty season w t in the extreme est , both of New Sou h Wales and

Queensland , this year had seen the numbers of merino sheep in those great stock - raising colonies

rise to their highest point , namely , to about sixty . millions in N e wSouth Wales and twenty - ﬁ ve millions in Queensland . These top numbers were destined 1 8 94 from to a gradual declension , the result of the prolonged drought over these pastoral colonies , which has now lasted to the end of the nineteenth

n l . century , and which is still o ly partially re ieved So that at the end of 1 892 sheep were at their

2 d 3 s . 6 . lowest price ; ewes could be got for 3 . and

o wethers much about the same , and merino wo l

was at low level prices . Thus old stagers that had grown up with th e country of their adoption shook their heads and said

- e the blessed country was over stocked , whilst thos who dealt in real estate and dwelt in towns began t o say that the country was over- banked and too much cred it afforded to speculators in the various land

3 8 6 A H T I I T [ N 1 8 48 S OR V S 93 94.

M booms that , like diluted ississippi schemes , sprang up about this time around the capitals of the bigger

a colonies of the Australi n continent . Over - stocking was soon checked by a diminishing

n l l rai fal which has enormous y , but it is trusted not

permanently , reduced the carrying capacity of the

- country . With the over banking and easy credit

t h e rope was a good deal shorter , and some three 1 8 92 months at the end of , and four at the beginning o f 1 8 93 r th e n , we e enough to prick bubble and bri g

down the inﬂation , reducing again to a normal t A level the disturbed curren of ustralian ﬁnance . ’ Tis best not to dwell now on the damage done and

e hardships experienced , universal as thes undoubtedly presented themselves to both dwellers in the land and visitors to the old country ; bu t disasters we r e

met with the greatest vigour and pluck , including

all kinds of personal privations , that brought into relief those charac teristics of the Australian race lately so brightly evinced on the battle grounds of

South Africa . Australians are quick to recover and

very hard to overcome . It was under these Australian conditions that a n old squatting friend and myself were asked to visit N e w South Wales and Q u eensland towards the end of 18 93 to appraise the pre sent and fu ture of a m m nu ber of pastoral properties , the results fro

h n b n w ich are so apt to depe d , esides the manageme t , on the price of the produce and on the run of

we a in seaso n s . So got aw y October for a six

3 8 7 R N AL A E E A A T E jO U OF Q U NSL ND SQ U T R .

’ months trip , during which much came under our practised consideration that helps to form a ﬁnal c hapter not u n interesting to the reader of pages w ” hich began with very early days .

t h e o f We found of course , that ﬁne ﬂeet the

P . and O . had increased in tonnage during the past

ﬁ ve b 1 8 8 7 years , the four comfortable Ju ilee ships of having been followed by still bigger vessels s u ch as

Hima l a a Au str a l ia the y and , and we were well c ontent to ﬁnd ourselves on the forme r of the last t wo with once more dear old Julius Orman as c m f o mander . So we sped quickly and com ortably t o A m t lbany , where we landed in record ti e for a for ' A n ight s stay in Western ustralia .

I r u bb e d A my eyes at lbany , up to so recently a dull roadstead chie ﬂy celebrated for sand and wild

ﬂowers , but now showing strong signs of speculative

a n d expansion , the reﬂex of the nascent Coolgardie ,

bidding fair to. drop the character of the erstwhile ﬁshing village where travelling new chums used to recruit from the scanty native blacks their armoury

of native weapons .

A h a d I lbany , since saw it last , become the

terminus of the Midland Railway , which boasts of an

- 3 6 . excellent ft . in narrow gauge line , the smoothest T perhaps of all t h e Australian lines . his line took

o u y in two half days , for the train camped for the

night at a fairly comfortable stopping place , to Perth ,

the capital of West Australia , formerly the old Swan

River . settlement .

E E N L ZV jO U R N AL OF A Q U S A D SQUA TTE R .

or better to be known and appreciated in it , than

Z wh o the keen old Kentish ingari , had a good word for everybody and wh o mad e the condi t ions of life in We st Australia admirably endurable . Perth owes its pretty situation to a sweeping w though some hat shallow estuary of the Swan River , ’ which , at a few miles distance from its seaport e n ntrance of Frema tle , forms a noble bend on the rising shores of which the capital of West Australia is now rapidly growing into a city . Perth will a l ways have the fresh and pleasant elements of navi gati on that a good sheet of water brings with it , but the commercial development stops , and is intended to stop , at Fremantle , where the harbour a n d the wharves are being rapidly extended to l prepare for the arrival of the mai steamers , which must soon cut out the transport of inland s u w A b pplies by the Midland Rail ay from l any , fﬁ a n d limit that line to timber and passenge r tra c . Perth must have altered wonderfully since I sa w th e 1 8 93 it at end of , which was before Kalgoorlie had set its seal on the r ichness and permanence o f West Australian gold - ﬁ el d s ; but even then English investors were busy buying up

e City allotm nts , and syndicates were being formed for the purchase of suburban lands , the proprietors of which had never dreamed , under former con d itio n s , the value these waste lands would so soon

attain .

T e h future of Fremantle , as colonial seaports go ,

3 90 A H T VI I I N 1 8 - 1 8 S OR S T 93 94.

is bound to be a very considerable one , as it has not only become the terminus of Coolgardie and neigh bo u r in - fi el d s g gold , but must also become that of A the extension to delaide , which is bound to follow and some day to connect the whole of the overland fi A traf c of the ustralian continent . Fremantle will then discharge the mails and most of the passenger traffi c from the great lines that trade

r A f om Europe and the Cape with ustralia , and if the long railway line at the back of the Great A ustralian Bight takes some making , we know how quickly Englishmen have covered the sandy wa stes from Cairo to Khartoum . Plenty of time and plenty of population are required by West Australia more than any of the older colonies to develop its resources ; for t hough she can claim no soil like the Western country and Gipps Land in Victoria , the Liverpool

Plains and the Hunter in New South Wales , or

D n B the arling Dow s and arcoo in Queensland , her territory comprises a vast area of country , a tithe of which only has she so far been able thoroughly to explore . She possesses the ﬁrst great desideratum of an t equable clima e , dry and healthy, which goes a long way ; and if her gold di scoveries during the next ten years come up to the ﬁnds of the las t seven or eight , the country will no doubt do great things , amongst which will be the provisio n of ample

b - ﬁ e l d s vegeta les , fresh meat and fruit to the gold

3 9 1 A E E A A TTE jO U E N AL OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R . population that have now to pay so dearly for t hem . Durin g my short stay in Perth I renewed my acquaintance with some old f riend s in Sir William A Robinson , Sir lick and Sir John Forrest , " Onslow Th e who hospitably received me . ﬁrst , one of a

- a " distinguished family of pro consuls , has , las passed away in the meridian of his useful life ; the last two are ﬂourishing in the tenure of their weighty b A ﬁ d responsi ilities , Sir lick ful lling the judicial tra i t ions of his Surrey ancestry , and the veteran h t Premier , Sir Jo n Forres , remaining an example and proof that the privations and hardships of Australian exploration have in no way curtailed l his career of practical usefu ness to the colony , the growth of which he , more than any other , has helped to stimulate . Perth is n o t outdone by other Australian capitals in the possession of a good cl u b That matter was taken early in ha n d under the r egi me of the last of A the West ustralian Crown Governors , Sir Frederick

Weld , after whom it is called the Weld Club . It has become a most comfortable resting - place f o r accre dited visitors ; everything is well and in ex w pensively done , and you are noiselessly aited upon

b . t y John Chinaman , in native garb and pigtail Buil Sw in an excellent situation facing the an River , you are almost dazzled from the verandahs by its glitter ing wavelets , and you can also look out into the

G ic gardens of overnment House , wh h has an equally

3 92

O A OE A E E A A TT j URN L Q U NSL ND SQU E R .

t u o A . a threat Northern stralia Generally speaking ,

' Au st r a l ia is most anxious t o open out in China and

a Jap n markets for her produce , and no doubt she

n o t ff will get them in time , but she could a ord to give the q u id p r o ga o of a ge n eral inﬂux o f Chinese

and Japanese , whose pushing ways are an old story

a n d well und erstood . So the northern coasts are j ealously gu a rded against the settlement o f a coloured h h race w ich , owever useful at the start , would pro

l Th e bab y become dangerous in t h e end . solution of th is important question to Northern Australia will no doubt come in good time ; meanwhile it is good for a t r opical district to remember to avoid ﬁghti n g t t agains nature , and not to expect advan ageously to settle the northern coast of Australia with a t European population only . Many years ago , alking

An - A to an glo ustralian statesman, whose mature experience warranted the expression o f such an

O m pinion , he said there was the aking of a glorious Cro wn Colony in that portion of Australi a that l a y 20th i north of the degree of lat tude , but that he believed the country it included required Asiatic

labour , and would never have its resources properly

developed without it . From Adel aide we were not long getting to Mel

wa bourne , and threaded once more our y through Port Philip Heads and its well buoyed channel to t Williamstown , wi h its forest of masts ; whence we

soon made our way to the Melbourne Club , a haven

- of rest where the inter colonial visitor , as well as the

3 94 T I I T I N 1 8 - 1 8 A SH OR V S 93 94.

globe trotter with the usual credentials , is made w ever comfortable a n d welcome . From this out e

in spent a busy month Melbourne , strictly occupied with matters concerning our mission . Melbourne had not recovered the lethargy that follows such a staggeri n g blow as her ﬁnancial institut ions had received ; there we r e evidences of that everywhere , and many of those delightful h ouses that make her suburbs possibly the best

' laid -out and the most e n joyable in Her Majesty s dominions , were tenantless or in the hands of a care T taker . his m a de the hospitalities of those that had escaped pressure all the more valuable a n d

Th e s conspicuous . excellent system of tramway continued running, but carried a very much smaller

o f a n d o u l a number travellers , I was told that the p p

M b - ﬁ f t h tion of el ourne had dwindled down by one , and that the tram way shares that had forme d such

n t an excellent investme had ceased to pay a dividend . d Conversation at the Clubs , and elsewhere , was boun g r eatly to dwell on dismal subjects connected with the pas t crisis ; and whereas some few years ago A ustralian Bank investments , whether by the way of

a ﬁxed deposits or the more risky shares , had lways been recommended as absolutely the bes t a n d

e s A s p rhaps the safe t u tralian investment going, this extraordinary vo l tc f ace had worked a complete

n ﬁ it change and destroyed a co dence which , is h only fair to say , has in the s ort s pace of the last s ix or seven years been almost completely restored .

3 95 O A OE A E E A S UA TTE j URN L Q U NSL ND Q E .

Vic toria is a wonderful count ry ; the rabbits that used to ruin her squ atters are now turned into proﬁt by regular exportation ; her rich pastures are equal to any in the world for the production

of butter , which almost equals that of the best

Danish article , and the ever active Victorian is now inspecting the dairies in Denmark with a View of making use of the experience of the w older country ; Victoria retaining , ho ever , the enormous advantage of an almost winterless

climate . Eggs and poultry are being largely

imported into the London market , and the English

cry is for more . Victorian vineyards have a great

name , and deservedly so , for were they not planted

mostly by vine - growers of celebrity ? Th e produce of these vin eyards is eagerly bought up and those wh o a r e for tunate enough to possess some of the

old St . Hubert or Yering wines in t heir cellar are t fortunate . What pleasanter occ u pa ion can there be for the small capitalist t han to po ssess a vineyard on the slo pes of the Yarra , and combine with the same a littledairying ? Th ese form occupa tions quite as independent a n d ' pe r h a ps superior in climate and social attraction to t h e grazing farms of Western Queensland , which are at present drawing. away those young Victorians who want more scope for their Operations . Nowhere in the world has the power of rapid central isa tio n shown itself more than in the growth of

i l in d i er ~ Melbourne , espec a ly taking in View the ﬁ

3 96

O U R N A L A E E A A T E j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U T R .

l m u h and wi l so e day f rnis armies that will , as they

e say , have to be r ckoned with . We found that in Sydney the ﬁnancial crisis had

a n d been far less pronounced and harmful , that the accumulated wealth of a few previous generations a had come to the scratch , and , in most c ses , saved

s the ituation , the ext ra caution of the New South Th Welshman standing him in good stead . e old

o r f o r r s Hawkesbury , Windsor settler, who pe hap fifty years had hitched up his gig or his horse at the posts before the old Bank of New South Wales did in George Street , still so , and that with a conﬁd ence that had never been shaken ; his wide brimmed hat and rough clothes might be less smart ’ than the Melbourne man s , but probably his balance in the coffers of the old bank was considerably

h a s e greater . So Sydney , no doubt, the privil ge

w u u d s e cu of age and experience , ith ndo bte ly less p

h ad u lation and , if she to bear the br nt of some

painful early struggles , it is well she should proﬁt by them now and reap the fruits of that caution that

age is said to bring with it .

In ﬁve years , and those rather critical ones , I did not expect to ﬁnd any startling developments — in th e Sydney world soci a l or commercial . Some

u of the bigger private residences , originall y b ilt in days when colonists were ‘ content to enjoy the fruition of their good fortune ’ in the capital of

their colony , stood empty , the result possibly of

absenteeism as much as of hard times . On the

3 98

R N L A E E L AN A TTE R jO U A OF Q U NS D SQU .

d was very quiet , and people took high tea instea of dinner ( not a bad thing either), Queensland having the great advantage of allowing you to reduce your establishment without fuss or loss of prestige . Happy i community that possesses that privilege , wh ch Old

England certainly loses by lacking .

Th e Government was going strong , and its credit ff was good , and if its ﬁnances had su ered during the crisis , and that in quarters that ought to have been s s ecure from attack , the ources of revenue were not

o l . n y intact , but full of promise for the future T here had , however , been a grim experience , as it is ever the most distant arteries in banking that have to su ff er in a pinch ; outside securities are w t o ff al ays the ﬁrst be called in , and must su er accordingly , and they did so in Queensland to a heavy extent . Finally , the banks that stood up took the cream of the business front those that ’ didn t , and I presume they have it still . So a visit 1 8 94 to Brisbane in January , , was not a wholly

. wa s unalloyed pleasure It , however , comforting to meet everywhere the youngsters of the new genera — tion active , sober , hardy , simple they seemed given k to every ind of athletics , the considerable heat

notwithst anding . But as there is no enervation in the climate of Southern Queensland , the youth f of the colony do not suf er physically or mentally , t o wit , the sound and tough scholars and athletes

its schools and playgrounds are turning out .

Th e various Meat Works , to which I have alluded

402

C H A P T E R X X X I I I

THE PEEL RIVER .

HAD d E I arrange , before I left ngland with my colleagues in the directorate of the Peel River ’ Company , to visit if possible the Company s estate T r near amwo th , New South Wales , a property

which alike for climate , rainfall , production of ﬁne

an d wool , last , but not least , good management , compared and compares favourably in its results A with any pastoral property in wide ustralia . I was glad to have as a companion for my visit

M L . A . my old friend , Mr . Joe Bell , . for Dalby , the l ’ son of Sir Joshua P . Bel , one of Queensland s

earliest and most valued colonists . Mr . Bell was young and a practised bushman , so he put in a

pleasant week at the Peel , riding with the ladies of

wa s the station , whilst I engaged in the more serious

work of inspection . We were met at Tamworth railway station by

Mr . George King , the manager under his father , and

were driven out to Goonoo Goonoo , the head

station , some ﬁfteen miles , in quick time and after hot Syd ney and Brisbane I never experienced a more refreshing change than the bracing air of the

406 TH E E E F L RI VE R .

Peel at an altitude of feet , and a rapid drive T through its varied country . here was the usual

shower bath at the end of the day , the pleasant

- family supper , the home grown food , and piles of

rich grapes and a variety of fruits , then (Feb r u a r T y) at their best . here are stations and

stations , but for climate and comfort , and look of Th ” e . thrifty welfare , give me Peel l Our inspection began in earnest , chieﬂy on whee s o but a g od deal also on horseback , any fatigue being of little account to an old squatter when he had to inspect a perfectly man aged estate in a fair

- d n season and everything in ap ple pie or er , nothi g

n w goi g to waste or going do n hill , for squatting is given to rude shocks and grievous disappoint ments

A w u n drought may s eep away yo r stock , renderi g your best laid schemes of no value .

. Your lambing may be lost from above causes , after you have reckoned on a good increase . Your wool may meet a falli n g or fallen market and net a price at which 1t will not pay yo u to w gro it .

An d o u m lastly , y may fro these causes or any of m ﬁ the get into nancial trouble . Th e Peel River Estate fortunately is not t roubled with any of the above serious drawbacks . Droughts

n are unknow , as the property , a freehold estate

u of acres , lies on an und lating plateau

b a n o l l surrounded y the m i Liver po l ange , which

407 O U R jVAL A E E A A TTE j OF QU NSL ND SQ U R .

attracts a certain rainfall of over 25 inches per

annum , generally more , only two years in thirty h w aving fallen belo that average .

Th e lambings are regular, generally averaging (turned out to lamb in paddocks)between 7 0 and 0 8 per cent . Th e wool never meets a really bad market, being of a description that almost always secures the

highest price for that class of wool , and is much

sought after by continental buyers .

Lastly , ﬁnancial troubles are unknown to the d Company , as both a reserve and epreciation fund

co - operate in securing the stability of the concern .

Moreover , the property has the great advantage of

easy , rapid and cheap carriage by rail to Sydney , and it is also within easy distance of the same

market for stock . It may here be noted that the sheep carried on the Peel River Company ’s properties ﬂuctuate be twe e en and and that the cattle h w e erd , hich is carried in the Goonoo Goonoo sh ep m p addocks and is an excellent source of revenue , so e - 9 1 s of its fat bullocks having recently fetched £ 0 .

h . a ead , numbers from to head Many of the advantages and gifts above mentioned

are more or less natural ones , but they are strongly

supplemented by admirable colonial management , which began at the ince ption of the Company over 40 t h e years ago , when present general manager , the

Honourable Philip Gidley King , took charge

of the estate , which has ever since been managed

m n on the sa e lines continuity of ma agement , when

408

TH E E E I VE F L R R .

o f that is good , being one the greatest desiderata in the breedin g up of a good ﬂock . It is not uninteresting to allude here to the m growth of a leading colonial fa ily such as Mr . King ’s and to its eminent public services in the ’ cause of Australian colonisation . Mr . King s grand

o f N e w father, who was the third governor South 18 00-1 806 Wales , , served in the navy , and as Lieutenant of the S ir iu s arrived with the ﬁrs t ﬂeet in Botany Bay in 1 7 8 8 soon after there arrived the

o f French squadron under the command La Perouse ,

n whe King , on account of his knowledge of French , was made by Governor Philip the mediu m of

r communication between t h e t wo sq u ad on s . King was next sent by Go vernor Philip to colonise

Norfolk Island , where he gave such satisfaction , that on his return to England he was sent out with a commission as Lieutenan t - Governor o f Nor m 1 800 folk Island , from which , in Septe ber, , he was appointed to the Governorship of N e w South

r Wales in succession to Gove nor Hunter , who had succeeded the ﬁrst Governor Philip .

Th e s o n of Governo r King and father of Mr .

King of Goonoo Goonoo entered the navy , saw active service in the Fre n ch war and surveyed the coasts of Australia in the M er ma id and

d n t u r e I n and the coasts of America in the A ve . 1 8 3 1 he settled in Australia as manager of the

M L . O. A A t r m . ustralian gricul u al Co pany , served as a for Gloucester and Macquarie , and died as Re r 6 t h e e A in 1 8 5 . dmiral Philip Gidley King , of P el

l l a in iver Comp ny , his son , began his career the O U R N AL A E E A A TTE j OF Q U NSL ND SQ U R .

R oyal Navy till he reached the rank of Lieutenant , when he joined the staff of the Australian Agri cultu ral Company and was appointed manager of the Peel River Company when that Company was formed as an offshoot of the Australian Agricultural 1 8 3 t Company in 5 . So tha there is an unusual amount of managing and governing blood in the

a King family , which has every ch nce of being well handed down to succeeding generations , as Mr . ’ King s son and grandsons , as they say in Colonial parlance , are shaping remarkably well . I will n o t weary my perhaps already exhausted reader with a close description of the Peel River

Estate , of which I was enabled to make a faithful a n d , I think , interesting report , or describe its snug and picturesque homestead with the usual st ation n buildings , the solid woolshed and eighbouring stud

a n d paddocks drafting yards , the not always to be

- - found school house and church , and the well watered creek which winds round the garden at the bottom

m to u t en sembl e of the ho estead ridge , and the of a vast stretch of undulating country either quite cleared of timber or in part waiting to be denuded of its stumps ; then from that , ridge upon

’ - r o win co u n t r ridge of grassy , good wool g g y, rising to the sky line of the pictu resque and fairly distant

Th e in Liverpool Range . reﬂection arises of the creasing value a freehold property such as the Peel derives under the continuous devel opment it r e ce ive s , the conditions of its tenure rendering it unnecessary that that should be in any way hurried .

- I said good bye with inﬁnite regret to the happy ,

412

E E I TH FE L R VE R .

o f o n hospitable people Go noo Goonoo , havi g pre vio u sl y had a good feed of grapes and figs . I felt how comparative ly free from Government inter ference and varied stock and other pests the t management of the es ate was , an exemption which was brought into strong contrast when I came to visit other properties . In a few words I feel incl ined to place before my readers the benefit of my experience in finally summing up the most important points to consider A in the choice of an ustralian pastoral investment , should legitimate squatting be the object in view , and not a speculative purchase with a view to resell .

I . It is absolutely necessary that you should choose your property where there is the certain t y a of a good ye rly rainfall , otherwise the chance of

droughts is one too great to encounter , that risk

being often bound to bring you down .

II . Sel ect your sheep run where it is freehold if

possible .

- III . Get good wool growing country , even if you

should require to give your sheep plenty of salt .

IV . Make your choice where carriage is handy

and , if possible , cheap , and markets at a fair distance . Of course you will have to pay high for these desiderata ; still it is better to do so and o wn a

w - a t small , compact and ell paying property than tempt to work a larger leasehold squattage against

dry seasons and other drawbacks . d Recent dry seasons , unusual in the recor s of the

wh o country , have slackened the ardour of those

o r d c nque ed the wilderness in earlier ays , for there

415 O U E N AL OE A E E A S U A TTE E j Q U NSL ND Q .

are instances in which a ple n tif u l supply of artesian water has not prevented loss when the grass has

failed , so that coming investors are bound to be more careful in their choice but the attraction and

n certai charms of pastoral life are bound to remain, as they will undoubtedly also revive with better seasons and an improvement in the value of produce that are sure to follow the somewhat dark years the pastoral tenant has had to go t hrough . With

r new markets and the g owth of the world , it is conﬁdently expected by men of experience that the ” bipeds wi l l overtake the quadrupeds . In t h e foregoing pages little has been written of ’ the growing development of Queenslan d s mineral resources , which recently placed that Colony a good second in the rank of Australia ’s gold pro d u ce r s it , but the subj ect is so large in itself that requ ires more scope than this volume can give it .

Hence this apology .

F I N I S .

r H I P I R AR AY Y DN . S S C CU L U S E Y . woo , Q ,

1 G R E AT M A R L B OR OU G H S TR E E T 3 , ,

L ON DON ,

M H RA E HAYE . O C S ,

“ ( L a t e Ca pt a in Th e

D m vo . t . P e 1 6 n t . N o w R e d in I . e y 8 C e t a y vol , , lo h ric /

R id i n g a n d Hu n t i n g.

M H HAY E S B AP T . . . y C ,

F u l l y I ll u st r a t e d wit h u pwa rd s of 25 0 R e prod u ct io n s of P h ot ogr a p h s

n a d Dra win gs .

P n e t t . in I D m 8 y o . e N o w R e d . e a y vol , y ric

S t a b l e M a n a ge me n t

a n d E xe r c i s e .

A BOO K F O R HO R S E O W N E R S AN D S T U DE N TS .

HAYE S M. HO ACE By CAPT. R ,

f P h t a h t a k e n s e ia l l I l l u s t r a t e d by n u m e r o u s R e p rod u c t io n s o o og r p s p c y

w k . f o r t h is or

“ — im t o h e t h e ﬁ rs t n u t l u n l l h o w l l vl n g u l l a l l C a pta in Ha yes wh o ma y ju s t ly cl a y — w i c t h e h o r e ht a wa s we o me n n cl t h e mo a m I m n w n h ma t t e rs con n e cte d wit h s l y lc , r ‘

l F mi l U r n l imu m. mo n u me n t o f t h e rwumn u n . a s u cce ss ive vol u me is a y

' ‘ L O N DO N : HU KS I 8: - v C t t To e R 8 o . d E d t n . S u e S e con i io p r oyal , lo h , Gil p, Pric 34/

P o i n t s o f t h e Ho r s e .

A FAMI LI AR TREATI SE ON EQUI NE CONFORMATI ON.

B A T y C P . M . HORAC E HAY E S ,

Th e pre s e n t E d i t io n has b e e n t horoughly re vis e d a n d con t ai n s n u me rous

d d t n n d n e - t t e n C t e o n th e B e e d E n a i io s , i clu i g sp cially wri hap rs r s of glish a n d F e n H e w t e Two H u n d e d b e u t I t t n or i g ors s , i h ov r r a iful llus ra io s e d e d m t th e e n u mb e o f e e t e n b r pro uc fro Pho ographs , larg r r which w r ak y h a n t e Au thor d have n e ve r b e fore b e e n pub lish e d .

An el a bora te an d in st r u ct iv e comp en d iu m o f sou n d k n owled ge o n a su bje ct o f gre a t m me n t t o a l l wn e s o f h ses b a w ite o f est a b ish e d a u t h it y o n a l l ma t t e s o o r or , y r r l or r wit h h — n n e t e d t e h e . Ti mes co c ors . W e h a il t h e a d ve n t o f a work o n t h e su bje ct by su ch a p a st ma st e r o f t h e a rt s ’ h i ie a s Ca t a in H a e Ha e a t e f Th e B u ff a n d a F e w o f t h e R a C l e e o f pp p or c y s, l o s, llo oy l ol g V e t e in a S u e n t h e a u t h o f e e a o f t h e m t im e a n d t h u gh y in t u t i e r ry rg o s, or s v r l os s pl oro l s r c v — t e a t i e u n r idm b ea k in a n d et e in a t e a t men t o f t h e h e . L a n d a n d r s s po g, r g, v r ry r ors W e a t r .

D e m h n e t t . y C o t . ce 8 o . l Pri y , IN F E C TI VE DISE ASE S

OF A N IM AL S.

’ B n o f F r e r e r a n d F r o h n e r s e t e r n a r e i g P a r t I . i e d b g V i y

P a t h o l o gy,

H. W G N e wma n D. P . it h a C h a pt e r o n B a ct e r i o l o gy by Dr . . ,

Tr a n sl a ted a n d E d ite d

B M H H Y y C a pt . . . A E S ,

Wh et h e n id e ed a s a w k o f e e en e f o r b u a t it i n e a s a te xt -b k f o r r co s r or r f r c sy pr c o rs, oo t u d e n t o r a s a t ea t i e o n a t h in it s wid e t i n i fi a n e t hi u me me e t e e y s s , r s p ology s s g c c , s vol s v r ” m t t e er n r R e co r d . e ui e e n a n d i s a n in a u a b e a d d it i n t o o u r h te r a ur e . V t i a r q r , v l l o y W it h ea t a t i a t i n we we me t h e a ea a n e o f t h i t a n a t i n wh i h f o r gr s sf c o lco pp r c s r sl o , c th e fi st t i me pl a e s i n t h e h a n d s o f E n glish - spe a k in ea d e s a w t h y e si n o f o n e r c ' g r r or v r o ’ ’ r t o f F ie d b e e a n d F h n e t w k a t a in Ha e e u t a t i n is u ffi ien t p a r rg r r o e r s gr a or . C p y s r p o s c I t w u d b e r e wa rra n t f o r t h e e x ce l l en ce o f t h e li t e ra ry port ion o f t h e presen t issu e . o l p ma s u mpt u ou s o n o u r p a rt t o a d d o n e word o n t h e v a l u e o f t h e work a s a sou rce o f in for

w er n a n . t i n E e o n e b t o t h e a u t h it o f t h e a u t h . Vet i a r i o . v ry o s or y ors

L N D N : H R T B L A KE TT L I M I TE D . O O U S C ,

I m e a 1 6m S e c n d d e 21 o . o E c p ri l i t i o n . Pri /

" HORSE B R E AK IN G .

B a . M H y C pt . . HAY E S ,

' ‘ Tnis E d itio n na s é een en tir ely r e - wf r z tten tne a mo u n t of tne l etterp r ess mo r e th a n d o zeé l ed ; a n d 75 r ep xo d n ctio n s of

P n t r a s a e bee n a d d ed o og p/z l e v .

' I t h t t H e b o n h e t h t th e a re is a c arac e ris ic of all C apt . ay s ooks ors s a y e m n t d h n n n e x e t t o t h e u A w e n t a n t e e e t o e o n e . i ly prac ical , pr s is c p io r l ork wh ich is e n t it l e d t o h igh prais e as b e i n g far a n d away t h e b e st re ason ed - o u t ” o n e o n b w w h e n n d e n e t e m e e e e n Th e F iel d . r aki g u r a sys av s .

F f h E d t o n R t . n 8 i i i evi se d . C ro w vo Pri ce 6/

Tr a in in g a n d

Ho r s e M a n a g e m e n t in In d ia .

H B C a t . M . . HAY y p E S ,

A u e u d e in e d t o h s f i s e s n wh e e . C n ise t i a n d l gu r gar or a y r o c , prac cal , — a t u r d a R v i t b e S e ew. por a l . y ’ W e e n t e t n e h h O n n H e r ai a v ry ig pi io of C apt . ay s b ook o n Hors e ’ T n n a n d M n e me n t in I n d a n d a r e in n t h t n o b e t t e u d e rai i g a ag ia , of op io a r g i cou ld b e plac e d in t h e h a n d s of e ith e r amat e u r h ors e ma n or v e t e rin ary su rge o n n e w e d in t h t m t n t d n o u r e m i e Ve ter in a r o u r n a l ly arriv a i por a ivisio of p r . y 7 .

C o n 8vo ce r w . Pri 5/ AM ON G HOR SE S I H N SOU T A F R ICA .

B C a t . M H H y p . . AY E S .

L ON D ON : H U R S T B L AC KE TT L I M I TE D , .