32 president's addkess. 



In 1795, Macarthur had raised his flock to 1,000. In 1810 only 

 167 lbs. of wool were among our exports ; but the introduction of 

 the merino increased both the quantity and value of the fleece, and, 

 in 1813, the wool industry was well established. 



Though some of the coastal country was found unhealthy and 

 fluke-infested, the open forest and ranges, with the great western 

 plains, were found to be ideal country for the development of 

 sheep; and, in about 1841, the supply had increased beyond the 

 demand, and good sheep were selling for eighteen pence a head. 

 Catarrh appeared in many of the flocks, and 70,000 died, in one 

 season. This was followed by the accidental introduction of the 

 Sheep Scab, which spread with alarming rapidity, so that at the 

 time of the opening out of the gold-diggings, all the southern flocks 

 were infected. In New South Wales, between 1848 and 1855, many 

 squatters were ruined, and it was worse again from 1863 to 1867, 

 on account of the arrival of large mobs from Victoria. Active 

 measures thus came into force, and the Government, by constant 

 supervision and regular dipping, finally stamped it out, and the 

 State was proclaimed clean in 1868. South Australia was infected 

 in about 1850-1 by imported sheep from Tasmania or Victoria, but 

 similar legislation stamped it out in 1866-67. Scab never entered 

 Queensland, but was common in West Australian flocks down to 

 1890. It is said to have come direct from England about 1830, with 

 a small consignment of sheep imported by a company of settlers. 



Though immense losses have taken place during the great 

 droughts, and millions of sheep have died, the number of sheep in 

 Australia has regularly increased; so that, at the present time, 

 there are over 92,000,000 sheep in Australia and Tasmania, and 

 the wool-clip in 1910 was worth £14,727,000. 



The last of the larger domestic animals introduced into Aus- 

 tralia, was the camel. The generally accepted idea that the greater 

 part of inland Australia was a desert, suggested that "the ship of 

 the desert" should be used for transport. As far back as 1837-43, 

 Captain Stokes, in his "Discoveries in Australia," advised that 

 camels should be introduced from India; and he suggested that 

 they could be landed on the north-west coast of Australia at a very 



