1915] 



are painted of the oiitlying regions of our Empire are not always 

 fair ; the J certainly lack the necessary detail of hardship. 



There are few of ns who have made the pilgrimage who do not 

 now feel, I believe, that we have visited a land of which we had no 

 understanding previously and one of which we still lack full under- 

 standing, so numerous and complex are its problems, so different the 

 conditions it offers from those with which we are acquainted at home ; 

 a land as yet unmasked as to its potentialities and its future, full of 

 difficulties, though rich in promise ; a land in no way made entirely 

 clear, least of all, perhaps, to those who people it. Unfortunately, 

 there are "such quantities of sand" and far too little water. It is like 

 no other land in aspect and colour, owing to the spare and pendant 

 character of much of the foliage and the peculiar grey or olive-green 

 of the Eucalyptus, a genus spread everywhere, which dominates all 

 but the so-called desert regions, where again, however, the vegetation 

 is peculiar in form and hue. The grey evergreen vegetation of 

 Australia, it may be noted, in general aspect is not unlike that of 

 Mediterranean countries ; moreover, all the Mediterranean plants 

 flourish in AustraHa, even the clovers are gaining hold in the pastures. 



One of the questions often asked of us was, " What do you think 

 of the Wattle ? " the national flower, used as the floral emblem of 

 the Commonwealth. There are over 400 species and like the 

 Eucalypts, of which at least 230 species are known, the Wattle or 

 Acacia, known here as Mimosa, pervades the Continent, giving it 

 everywhere in spring-time a golden glow such as no other land 

 exhibits. AVe were too early to see the Wattles at their best in the 

 Adelaide region and a little too late in Queensland but along river 

 banks in the Healesville district near Melbourne and in valley 

 bottoms in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, we saw enough of their 

 golden glory to convince us of their beauty and to justify the repute 

 in which the species is held. Unfortunately, as civilization proceeds, 

 the characteristic vegetation must disappear and probably at the 

 next visit of our Association much of the country dressed in sober 

 grey or olive-green passed through during our visit will be clothed 

 with emerald-green in winter and spring and golden yellow in 

 summer, because wheat will have taken the place of forest and 

 pasture. Xot a little of Australia is still virgin land, untouched 

 €ven by savage man and as it is so peculiar in character, travellers 

 should lose no time in seeing its special features, as the opportunity 

 will not last for ever. To judge from what we saw at Brisbane and 

 at Cairns, in the neighbourhood of the Baron Falls, the tropical 

 forests of Queensland are truly primeval, such as it is impossible to 

 see elsewhere — far more striking than those of Ceylon or Java even. 



Unfortunately, too many AustraHans, like Americans and Cana- 

 dians in the past, are behaving as utter barbarians and with the 

 selfishness and lack of forethought characteristic of civilized man 

 are not only killing the trees everywhere by ring-barking them and 



