334 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



sufficient water-supply can be provided for artificially. A potentiality, as yet latent, pertaining 

 to all these islets, is the growth of the cocoa-nut palm, and the development of the many industries 

 of which this invaluable vegetable product forms the basis. The Queensland Government has 

 recently taken the wise initial step of planting cocoa-nuts on a number of the islands, and, Vv'ithin 

 a few years' time, these will yield an abundant harvest. The luxuriance of the cocoa-nut groves on 

 the mainland as far south as Mackay, and the fact that tlie tree will perfect its fruit in even the 

 extra-tropical latitude of Moreton Bay, furnish a sure guarantee of the eligibility of the Barrier 

 region for the development of the cocoa-nut-growing industry. Undertaken by public or private 

 enterprise, in combination with one or several of the many existing or potential fishing industries 

 enumerated in this chapter, it would undoubtedly represent an assured and substantial income. 



The last, but by no means the least, important of the potentialities which it is proposed to 

 deal briefly with in this chapter, relates to a subject of pure biological science. The Barrier 

 district, throughout its 1,200 miles extent, from Sandy Cape to the New Guinea shores, represents 

 a vast harvest-field ripe for the sickle, wherein, as yet, skilled biological labour is all but unknown. 

 From that harvest-field, the materials brought crudely together in this volume represent, for the 

 most part, but scattered, single-handed, gleanings, culled by the wayside track of official routine. 

 Such as they are, they may be accepted as an earnest of the good things that remain behind, and 

 it is hoped they will stimulate the systematic exploration of this productive region. 



Beyond all, it is earnestly advocated, in this day of the establishment of biological stations, 

 at all points of the compass where there appears to be a prospect of good results, that such an 

 institution should be founded at the most eligible spot within the Barrier precincts. The balance 

 of the evidence that can be brought to bear upon this project points most unerringly to Thursday 

 Island. Situated in mid-sea, within easy striking distance of the Queensland mainland, New 

 Guinea, and the innumerable reefs and islands of Torres Strait, and the northern Barrier, it 

 possesses potentialities for the systematic study of tropical marine biology absolutely unequalled. 

 Thursday Island, moreover, notwithstanding its more equatorial location, enjoys a cooler and 

 more salubrious climate than that of the adjacent continent ; and constituting, as it does, the 

 port of call for the ships oi several lines of ocean-going steamers, it is kept in constant touch 

 with the proceedings of the outside world. The very fact of its having been recently determined 

 to fortify this strategic outpost, and to maintain a permanent garrison there, is a guarantee that 

 Thursday Island now, as compared with earlier days, a long way within the pale of civilisation, 

 can offer almost all the social advantages and conveniences of the mainland cities. 



A biological or zoological station established at Thursday Island would be an essentially 

 federal Australian institution, and would look for the main means of its foundation and maintenance 

 to Australian corporate support, and Australian private liberality. In this direction, the science 

 of IVIarine Biology should not long be disappointed of her hope. The liberal endowment 

 from both of the above sources, which the allied sciences of Mineralogy, Forestry, and 



