VICTORIA. 67 



Portland Bay is the only harbour of refuge for hundreds of miles along 

 the coast of Australia. As we steam in, Cape Grant shuts out the new 

 lighthouse on Cape Nelson, the long swell is dashing with violence against 

 the sides of Lawrence Rocks, whose peaks are the home of the gannet and 

 other sea fowl. To the right at the extreme north is the flourishing rural 

 township of Narrawong. Above this the green slopes of Mount Clay merge 

 into the thickly-timbered forest land not yet cleared. Ahead there is a light- 

 house, a signal post, a few houses embowered in trees, high cliffs of white 

 limestone or dark basalt, and then, as we round the promontory into the 

 harbour, the quaint yet lovely town is all before us, extending along the 

 bluffs above the shore, the only natural depression being where a stream 

 flows into the sea from a lagoon in a valley at the back of the town. The 

 beauty of this crescent-shaped bay, with its outlines of bold headlands, is 

 striking. As to the town, the white cliffs, the stone-built churches and 

 houses, give it an English look. It recalls many spots on the Sussex coast. 

 It is not Australian in any of its outer characteristics. The spirit of the 

 English pioneer, Edward Henty, seems stamped upon it. 



Victoria is traversed for its greater part from east to west by a mountain 

 chain, which is lofty in the south-east corner, Gippsland, takes the form of 

 mere high land at the back of Melbourne, rises again in the Pyrenees, and 

 dies out in the Western District. Usually the chain is about seventy miles from 

 the seaboard. From the Gippsland sea-coast it presents a grand sight, often 

 of snow-topped summits. Going to the north from Melbourne, you pass over 

 the crest, which is 1700 feet high, without being aware of the rise. But all 

 the water on the one side flows to the sea, and on the other to the river 

 Murray. Crossing the range from Melbourne to the north and the north- 

 east, the country slopes to the level Murray plains. Here you enter 

 upon the wheat-growing district. The level ground is fenced into fields which 

 bear this one crop. Shepparton, the agricultural centre of the north-east, 

 aspires to be the Australian Chicago, and may be mentioned as an instance 

 of the rapid changes which are possible in Australia. In a pictorial work 

 published seven years ago, Mr. E. C. Booth writes ; ' The township of 

 Shepparton lies on the east bank of the Goulbourn. It gains its chief 

 importance from the pound of the district being within its borders, and it will 

 be remembered for years to come on account of the long and weary journeys 

 to it undertaken by bullock-drivers and carriers in search of their strayed 

 cattle.' How far off are those days now ! Shepparton is to-day a local 

 capital, busy and self-important. Its streets are lined with shops and houses ; 

 there are five banks, several assurance agencies, a handsome town-hall, and 

 a busy traffic. 



What is said of Shepparton in the north-east applies to Horsham in the 

 north-west. Horsham, the newly-created capital of the Wimmera District, is 

 entitled ' the Prairie City.' The Wimmera climate is hot and dry, and there 



f 2 



