J""M Barnard, Notes of a Visit to W.A. 



1919 



39 



near Perth. The authorities are proud of their mounted whale 

 skeleton, 80 feet long. Fossils, minerals, and the other items 

 of a museum make up a very interesting collection. The 

 ethnological display was not so extensive as I had expected 

 from such a large area as Western Australia, still having 

 a large aboriginal population ; but I learned that from want 

 of room many valuable exhibits are unable to be displayed. 

 The Public Library occupies portion of the same building, and 

 the Royal Society has the use of a room there. The monthly 

 meeting of the society took place while I was on my Caves trip, 

 so I unfortunately missed meeting some of the kindred spirits 

 of the West. The Zoological Gardens at South Perth were not 

 seen at their best. The dry season was affecting them, and 

 during the previous winter there had been numerous deaths 

 among the animals and birds ; but more serious than all was 

 the falling-off in revenue, and consequently the difficulty of 

 upkeep. This, unfortunately, is the result of a universal 

 monetary depression in Western Australia, of which we have 

 seen evidences in the papers during the past week, mainly due 

 to the falling-off of the gold yield and the agricultural and 

 other industries not being sufficient to fill its place. Perhaps 

 as shipping gets more plentiful there will be a greater induce- 

 ment to turn to the land, for from the land can be the only 

 certain income. 



Western Austraha occupies about one-third of the island 

 continent of Austraha, and it should be borne in mind that 

 my remarks have referred only to a few localities in that part 

 of the State which, partly for the sake of brevity and partly 

 to revive its first designation. Dr. Griffith Taylor has aptly 

 termed " Swanland " in his exceedingly interesting memoir on 

 " The Austrahan Environment." Swanland is also a set-off 

 to Gippsland, in the south-eastern corner of the continent, and 

 saves the use of that longer designation, " South- Western 

 Western Australia," which was previously necessary. His 

 eastern boundary of Swanland, which is practically the 10" 

 rainfall line, runs from Shark Bay in the north to Israelite Bay 

 in the south-east, crossing the Eastern railway between 

 Southern Cross and Coolgardie, and the Coolgardie-Norseman 

 line about midway between those two places. 



On my return to Adelaide I broke my journey for three 

 days, and filled in my time with friends and by taking two of 

 the Tourist Bureau char-a-banc trips, which are very popular. 

 The first was through Magill and up the road to Norton's 

 Summit, past the Morialta Falls — a spot that is worth anyone's 

 while to visit. The falls are in a magnificent gorge after the 

 character of the Werribee Gorge, and are visible from the 

 road. Then on through Piccadilly to Craters ; here there was 



