Atlas Page 89
By Henry T. Burgess

SPENCER’s GULF cleaves the continent like a wedge, and Port Augusta, at the head of it, seems designed by Nature to be the entrepot and emporium for the vast interior. It is the starting-point of the transcontinental railway, which is already constructed past Lake Eyre, and will before many years be continued right though to Port Darwin. East, west, and north, for hundreds of miles, the country is occupied, and the volume of imports and exports must steadily increase. A channel has been cut to the railway wharf a hundred and fifty feet wide with eighteen feet depth at low water, and there is often quite a fleet of large vessels in the harbour. The immediate surroundings of Port Augusta are not very attractive, but the fine buildings of the town, its good streets and large stores, testify to its commercial activity and enterprise.

Seven miles away, among low sand-hills, is the ostrich farm, an estate of five thousand acres granted by the government on condition that two hundred and fifty ostriches, over one year old, were placed upon it. The experiment of acclimatising these birds was begun near Gawler, but the northern property has proved more suitable for them, as there they live and do well on the natural herbage, whereas at Gawler they had to be supplied with food. The condition laid down has been more than complied with. By the middle of 1887 there were four hundred an sixty ostriches on the farm, a hundred and twenty were hatched and reared during the previous year, and it was expected that in the following breeding season the number would be increase by two hundred more. The herbage consists chiefly of saltbush and blue-bush, etc., with a fair amount of mulga and other scrub, on which the birds feed in times of drought. With the exception of the scanty rainfall, the managers say that no better country could be desired for the purpose, and as the extent of it is practically unlimited it is expected that feather-farming will become an important industry.

The railway penetrates the Flinders Range through the tortuous and rugged defile of Pichi Richi Pass, over which the rocky summit known as the Devil’s Peak keeps watch and ward. Passing Saltia and Quorn, it traverses the almost interminable Willochra Plain, and again crossing the range where the engineering difficulties are not formidable, enters the Lake Torrens depression. For some scores of miles north of Port Augusta the farming has contended with the pastoral interest, but an uncertain rainfall and bad seasons have made the struggle discouraging, though some of the towns, such as Hawker, sixty-five miles out, are substantial’ and seem to hold their own. Farther north, cultivation is out of the question, except in mall patches and by the aid of irrigation. Hour after hour the train jogs steadily along over plains as stony as a badly mended country road. Not a blade of grass is to be seen. The vegetation consists of salt-bush and other salsolaceous bushes, with some scrub and perhaps a line of gum-trees marking the course of a distant creek, the shingly bed of which, is usually dry, but now and then at long intervals filled with a rushing torrent. To the west the vision is limited only by the convexity of the globe, but eastward the bare, rocky, fantastic peaks of the Flinders Range are full of interest. Within that mighty chain are inexhaustible stores of minerals, of which the Blinman, Yudanamutana, Wirrialpa, and other mines only afford an indication. There are also numberless scenes of witching beauty over which even prosaic government officials in formal reports have been known to rhapsodise. Natural gateways, like that of Temple Bar, twenty miles from Beltana, lead to profound abysses watched over by lightning riven pinnacles that are sharply outlined in the very transparent atmosphere. Verdant vales, with deep pools of translucent water, overhung by noble trees and shut in from the world by towering precipices of naked rock, are to be found, and they are appreciated the more highly because of their strong contrast with the waste wilderness that lies near.

Beltana, a hundred and forty-three miles from Port Augusta, is the site of the first camel-camp established by, Sir Thomas, Elder. The "ship of the desert " is now so much of an institution throughout the north that it is difficult to realise how recently it was imported. As an auxiliary to exploration, for means of communication, and for transport service, the camel is invaluable. Nothing comes amiss to him. His broad-cushioned feet make light of the stony tracks that are the ruin of horses and the despair of horsemen. He is said to object to telegraph-poles and flooring-boards slung crosswise, because when passing through scrub the ends are apt to catch, nearly wrench off his hump, and make him swear; but he stalks along carrying a plough on one side, an earth-scoop on the other, and a rider on top of all, with perfect equanimity. He can eat anything, which on these barren plains is everything in his favour; as a rule, is manageable without much difficulty by those who understand him, but he is a demon in his wrath. Woe betide the careless or luckless driver who puts him in a rage, for if he can he will seize him with his teeth, sweep the ground with him, kneel on him, and leave nothing of him but a lifeless, shapeless pulp.

Hergott, two hundred and thirty-one miles from Port Augusta, is the nearest station to south western Queensland, and draws a large amount of traffic from the pastoral stations there and along the Diamantina and Cooper’s Creek. The line turns westward to pass round the southern extremity of Lake Eyre, and for a considerable distance is twelve feet below the level of the ocean. The "mound springs" are an interesting feature, of this region, and for a considerable distance northward. They are conical hillocks, occurring singly and in groups, from which water flows-natural artesian wells. Not all of them are useful for drinking or irrigation, for some are warm and others impregnated with minerals.

Until the Peake is reached, about two hundred miles beyond Hergott, the country continues poor even for sheep farming and worthless for anything else, but beyond that point it greatly improves. The railway bridges the region which barred the way to the interior, for any other mode of traction was impracticable. Many thousands of miles at the MacDonnell Ranges and beyond are said to be as good for grazing as any part of the world. From the statements made by explorers, it may be gathered that wherever in the interior the land is sufficiently elevated to attract and intercept moisture from the air, vegetation flourishes. Some of the country-perhaps a third-is at present considered valueless, but that is not a large proportion. The telegraph line keeps an open thoroughfare right through the heart of the continent, and the stations are nuclei of civilisation. There are wide differences between the natural features, climate, etc., of these remote places, but in some of them, barring the absence of society, the conditions of life are by no means unpleasant. At Alice Springs the mean temperature is about seventy degrees, and the annual rainfall averages eleven inches and a half. The station is prettily and picturesquely situated on the bank of the river Todd, and Mr. Newland, the chairman of the Transcontinental Railway Commission, says: —"The scenery around it is always interesting, often striking, and sometimes magnificent. The valley in which it lies has no counterpart in South Australia that I have seen. It stretches away in the dim distance east and west, bounded to the south by the marvellous wall of hard flinty rock with the ready-hewn gateways through it, and to the north by the broken-up main MacDonnell Range, the source of the rivers, creeks, and springs; a range of granite, now in huge boulders, and again decomposed into excellent pasture land. Eighteen miles west of the telegraph-station is Temple Bar, a gap through which the telegraph line passes, while immediately opposite is Simpson’s Gap, a wonderful gorge in the main range, with mighty cliffs towering up to the heavens, between which lies a beautiful pool of permanent water. To pass those narrow heights the traveller must swim that icy stream, upon which the sun can shine but little. On the other side the approach is difficult, so torn is the range, so rough the boulders. Further to the west there are many of these gorges, and one cannot wonder that the native lords of these wilds have conceived the idea, on more occasions than one, that they could defend them against the white man." It should be borne in mind that this is written of a place a thousand and forty-three miles from Adelaide, close to the Tropic of Capricorn, and not far from the centre of the continent. A beautiful tecoma hangs on the magnificent cliffs spoken of; there are also other floral charms, and both vegetables and fruits can be cultivated with little trouble. The telegraph stations were constructed and armed for defence, some tribes of the blacks being both fierce and treacherous. In 1874 the Barrow’s Creek station was attacked by the aborigines, and three men were speared, two of whom —including Mr. Stapleton, the chief officer —died of their wounds. They are still troublesome to the squatters, spearing stray cattle and stealing sheep when they have a good opportunity, but have learned by an experience little likely to be forgotten not to attack white men or their dwellings.

This sketch of the boundless north, though necessarily incomplete, will suggest the immense possibilities of the interior and show that it is not the arid desert and womb of the hot winds it was once imagined to be. It would require a bulky volume to describe in anything like detail its stony and sandy wastes, its grassy, plains, its marvellous artesian springs, its mountain chains teeming with minerals and probably with precious stones, and its vast lakes which serve as soakages and evaporation-pans for inland rivers, some of which are hundreds of miles in length. It is not yet thirty years since J. McDouall Stuart unfurled the Union Jack in the centre of the continent. During the whole of the intervening period exploration has been going on, and it will be continued until the character of what are now unknown spaces is fully ascertained. Much still remains to be done, but the pioneer steadily follows in the track of the explorer, and reports of mineral discoveries attract both capital and labour. The land held under pastoral leases in South Australia on June 22nd, 1887, covered four hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and thirty two square miles This is rather more than half of the entire territory, and all but a small portion of it is north of Adelaide. While the magnitude of the area already occupied is such as to preclude minute description, it strikingly indicates how rapidly the wilderness is being subdued.

UNTIL the transcontinental railway is constructed, visitors from Adelaide to the extreme north of the colony will have to make a voyage round half the continent. Approaching Palmerston from the east, the first glimpse of the Northern Territory that the traveller obtains is the point off Port Essington. That settlement has been abandoned for nearly forty years, and the only remains of it are some ruined buildings, traces of cultivation, and herds of wild buffaloes, the descendants of those that were turned adrift by the settlers long ago. The Cobourg Peninsula, where there is a cattle station, is next rounded and Van Diemen’s Gulf entered. Across Clarence Straits, thirty-four miles from the mainland, lies Melville Island, seventy-five miles long and thirty-eight broad. It is said to be well-watered and fertile, but since the military post of Fort Dundas was abandoned in 184o, it has been wholly given up to the blacks, who are numerous, warlike, and treacherous. The reports that it swarmed with buffaloes and Timor ponies were disproved by a recent expedition that was conducted by the government resident, who found that the fauna and flora of the island did not differ materially from those of the mainland.

Port Darwin is sometimes compared for beauty and security with Port Jackson. It has outer and inner heads, the latter being about two miles apart, and within them it attains a breadth of seven miles and separates into three main branches running far inland. For depth of water, extent, and security of anchorage, it is worthy to be the gateway to a continent. Its chief drawback is the extraordinary rise and fall of the tides, which make wharfage difficult; but this will be overcome by the jetty that is to be constructed in connection with the railway works now in progress. Palmerston occupies an admirable position, and is so situated that the view of it comes suddenly on the visitor, whose eye is charmed by the neat white-roofed buildings seen against masses of tropical foliage. It consists of about eight hundred acres, well laid out on an elevation about sixty feet above the sea. The public buildings, including the government residency, post office, court-house, etc., are substantially built of stone. There are a few other handsome edifices, among which two of the banks are conspicuous, but the chief building materials are wood and iron. There is one place of worship —a Wesleyan Church constructed of weatherboards, a good town hall, an institute with library, and several hotels. The sites chosen for both the gaol and hospital have been most judiciously selected. The latter is about a mile out of the town, and commands a superb view of the magnificent harbour, yet is thoroughly sheltered. Near by is Waterfall Gully, and it is a marvel of beauty, the feathery shoots of the bamboo contrasting with the shining foliage of the banana plants, through which the glistening Of a little cascade is seen. This is one of the most charming scenes to be found in the environs of the town.

Some aspects of Palmerston are strikingly Asiatic. High-bowed Chinese sampans, with their square lateen sails, ply about the harbour. Its connection with the pearl-fishery is not unimportant, and but for the tide-rise —up to twenty-four feet, which necessarily causes strong currents —it would be the regular headquarters for the flotilla of luggers with their nondescript crews that are engaged in the business. The proportion of Chinese to Europeans in the town is very large. Cavenagh Street is almost entirely occupied by Chinese stores, gambling houses, opium dens, washing and tailoring premises, carpenters’ shops, etc. The buildings here are of the flimsiest, and usually consist of a mere framework of poles covered with galvanised iron or bark. Umbrella-like hats, pig-tails, wide sleeves, sandalled feet, bare legs, and indeed the sights, sounds, and odours of China abound. At the morning market the fish and vegetable hawkers obtain their supplies, but gardening is the Chinaman’s speciality. Among bamboo thickets, useful vegetables of all kinds are grown in great profusion. Long rows of pine-apples —stiff, prickly, geometrical, and low-growing —are in marked contrast with the glossy green leaves of the banana, which in every garden arrests the eye.

Next in importance to Palmerston is Southport, twenty miles distant by water and fifty by land. The usual course is down the centre of the harbour and through the middle, or south arm, which, three miles wide at its entrance, narrows to a creek called the Blackmore River. When the tide is full the scenery is excessively monotonous by reason of the unvarying mangroves that line the banks, and at low water it is diversified by numerous shoals. Southport has been the starting-point for the interior ever since the settlement of the Northern Territory was begun, and during the mining mania was a busy place. It contains a telegraph station and post office, a public-house where teamsters and others congregate, a few stores and workshops, with a veritable Chinatown, where is a medley of huts occupied by Chinese labourers and fishermen.

For a hundred and fifty miles or more from Palmerston the country on both sides of the telegraph line has been thoroughly explored. It has features of much variety and often of striking beauty. Ranges of well-wooded hills are numerous, and rivers and streams of considerable importance are constantly met with. The observant traveller invariably concludes that, despite tropical discomforts, a large population will yet be found living in comfort and affluence. "Rum-jungle," twenty-eight miles from Southport, and where there is a wayside hotel, is a veritable jungle. Palms of various kinds interlaced with gorgeous creepers are in rich profusion, and nowhere in the territory is there more and merrier singing of birds. Among those that abound here are the jungle pheasant and the bower bird, which has the interesting habit of amusing itself by decorating the neighbourhood of its nest with shells and bright-coloured pebbles. The soil in this region is a rich brown loam, and will grow anything. Poett’s plantation, three miles away, is a proof that coffee, cinchona, and other tropical products can be produced. Ant-hills from six to twenty feet in height abound. These fantastic erections, which are as hard as flint, are one of the features of the Territory throughout its extent, and are the work of the much-abused white ants. At Stapleton, fourteen miles further, the auriferous country is entered upon, and thence for several miles the road leads over mountainous country with outcrops of ironstone and micaceous slate. Seventy miles from Palmerston the Adelaide River is crossed. In the dry season there is a rippling stream, clear as crystal, but sometimes it is a roaring torrent a quarter of a mile wide. Vegetable life is most prolific along its banks, and in its permanent waters alligators are usually to be found. All the way southward to Pine Creek, the terminus of the section of the railway that is being constructed, and within a comparatively short distance of the road, are hundreds of deserted mining claims. The alluvial diggings caused numerous settlements to spring into existence that are now deserted and almost forgotten. The work has been practically abandoned in the majority of instances to Chinamen. Of them, there are many colonies still fossicking about the old diggings, and their gardens are bright oases demonstrating the fertility of the soil.

Though there are no lofty mountain ranges in the Territory, the scenery has, in many places, elements of grandeur. There are sandstone terraces, weather-worn into the forms of Gothic abbeys and fortified castles, with escarpments, bastions, towers, turrets, and battlements, that rise in striking contrast above the rich and ran vegetation, and are reflected in the placid waters of the innumerable lagoons. Numerous rivers, forming broad and deep natural waterways, extend far into the interior, and among them the Roper is navigable for upwards of ninety miles. They, swarm with fish, teem with fowl, and the country on their banks is often exquisitely beautiful. Rich alluvial plains of great extent, covered with succulent herbage, are enclosed by belts of jungle and forests containing timber of a highly valuable quality. Vegetable life is most prolific; everywhere tropical luxuriance lends its charm to the landscape, and for the purposes of both pastoralists and agriculturalist the soil is all that can be desired. A copious rainfall extends over a large portion of the territory, and it diminishes with remarkable regularity as the distance from the coast is increased. At Palmerston and Southport, it averages sixty-three inches per annum; at Pine Creek, a hundred and fifty miles south, it is forty-three inches; at Daly Waters, three hundred and seventy miles from Palmerston, under thirty inches; and two hundred and fifty miles farther south, only seventeen inches. Experiments in the government gardens and elsewhere have conclusively proved that sugar-cane, indigo, and arrowroot, such homely vegetables as yams and sweet potatoes, and delicious fruits such as the custard apple, jack-fruit, oranges, lemons, and a great many more, will thrive splendidly. Rice can be produced to any extent in the fertile river bottoms. The government resident declares that the ill success of agriculturists is attributable chiefly to selection of unsuitable land, wasteful expenditure, and bad management. Pastoral settlement is continually increasing. Cattle and horse breeding is an established industry on the north coast, and it is believed that the central portion of the territory can carry, thirty millions of sheep. ‘The metalliferous country has not yet been fairly tested, and though some mining has been done, it scarcely indicates even remotely what may be expected in the future by means of the railway and systematic enterprise. The mineral treasures awaiting development are practically inexhaustible. Enthusiasts speak of mountains of tin, miles of silver lodes, and gold-bearing reefs without number. Five tons of gold have already been exported. The Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods has said: —"I do not believe that the same quantity of mineral, veins of gold, silver, tin, copper, and lead will be found in any equal area in Australia. In fact, 1 doubt if many provinces will be found in any country so singularly and exceptionally favoured as Arnhem’s Land is in respect to mineral riches."

The climate is trying to European constitutions, and especially in the rainy season, when thunderstorms are often violent, and at times almost incessant. Insect plagues of great variety and severity have to be endured. The increase of population is slow, and at present there are only about two thousand Europeans in the Territory, from four to five thousand Chinese, and a few Cingalese and Malays. Despite all drawbacks, however, the varied and abundant resources it possesses, and its excellent geographical position, must ensure for it growing importance and a prosperous future.

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