40 Barnard, Notes of a Visit to W.A . [voV'^xxxvi 



a stoppage of half an hour for afternoon tea. In chatting 

 with a lady and gentleman on the car they said " they would 

 like to take some of the wild-flowers home to their daughter, 

 who belonged to a naturalists' club." I naturally was 

 inquisitive enough to ask, " What club ? " when I was informed 

 " The Melbourne one." " Well," I said, " I probably know 

 your daughter, and she is sure to have spoken of me," so I 

 introduced myself. The member referred to is Miss M. 

 Johnson, Miss G. Nethercote's companion on her Baw Baw 

 trip. On leaving Craters we went up to the summit of Mount 

 Lofty, from whence there is a fine view of the Adelaide plain, 

 and then took the road down to Adelaide through the Glen 

 Osmond valley. A beautiful trip, but the hills were very dry, 

 and few flowers were to be seen, PiiUencBa daphnoides being the 

 most noticeable. The war has even affected the vegetation 

 of these hills, for, owing to the scarcity of shipping, the Broken 

 Hill mines have not been able to get their regular supplies of 

 Oregon timber from America, so they have had to fall back 

 on local timber, and, as South Australia is very short of forest 

 •timber, the Mount Lofty Ranges are being stripped of their 

 gums, and the logs sent to Broken Hill. The face of the range 

 is also being deeply scarred by the extension of the quarries 

 which supply the stone for building and road-making purposes 

 in the city and suburbs. These scars can be seen from a 

 distance of six or eight miles, so they are fairly extensive. 

 The second trip, on the next afternoon, in which Mr. and Mrs. 

 Johnson also joined, was southerly via Happy Valley Reservoir 

 to Clarendon, on the Onkaparinga River, returning to Adelaide 

 by the Coromandel Valley and Blackwood — another very 

 picturesque trip, and, had the country not been so dry, would 

 have been more enjoyable. No visitor to Adelaide should fail 

 to take one or more of the Tourist Bureau trips. Most of them 

 touch the Mount Lofty Ranges in one part or another. 



My final day was terribly windy and dusty. I visited the 

 Zoo in the morning. The collection of animals and birds is 

 more modest than ours, but everything is very nicely housed 

 and well kept. While there I noticed two or three specimens 

 of the Larger Wanderer Butterfly lazily flying about. All too 

 short visits to the Botanical Gardens, South Australian Museum, 

 and the Public Library filled up a busy day, and left one 

 wishing for a few more days in " The City of the Plain." The 

 ethnological exhibits at the museum are very extensive and 

 particularly interesting, and deserved a much longer time 

 than I had to spare for them. My holiday was nearly over, 

 and I returned to Melbourne next (the thirtieth) day, well 

 pleased with the experiences of my trip, for is not all travel 

 educative. 



