68 



AUSTRALIAN PICTURES. 



were doubts as to whether the farmer would hold his own on these arid 

 plains ; but the settlement is now twelve years old, and is increasing mightily. 

 This Wimmera District tapers off into the mallee scrub, the old desert of 

 Victoria, which has lain neglected for years, while Victorians have opened up 

 country 2000 miles away. Here the dingo found his last refuge, and to the 

 infinite joy of the dingo, as it may be supposed, the rabbit appeared upon 

 the scene. When the rabbit came, the few squatters who were trying to turn 



the mallee scrub to account gave 

 up in despair, for first the rabbits 

 devoured the scant grass on 

 which the sheep fed, and then 

 the dingoes feeding on the rab- 

 bits grew more numerous and 

 strong. The mallee went beg- 

 ging in blocks of 100,000 acres, 

 at an annual rental of ^5 per 

 block ; and at last the district 

 had to be specially taken in hand 

 by the State, and long leases 

 have been granted to tenants on 

 favourable terms, on condition 

 that they destroy the ' vermin,' 

 for that is the title bestowed upon 

 rabbits here. Several rivers strive 

 to flow .from the ranges through 

 or by the mallee to the Murray, 

 but none succeed. The Avon, 

 the Richardson, and the Wim- 

 mera all collapse and disappear 

 on their way. The Loddon has 

 a watercourse for the whole dis- 

 tance, but at its best in summer 

 it will be but a chain of water- 

 holes. Yet crop after crop is 

 taken off these plains ; the farmers 

 all appear to make money, and 

 now that works for conserving water for irrigation are to be undertaken, the 

 spirits of these sunburnt toilers are of the highest. 



All this district is intersected by ' wheat lines ' of railway, over which in 

 December, January, and February the crop is rushed to the seaboard. Great 

 are the blocks that occur, and indignant is the grumbling because the whole 

 yield cannot be carried at once. Horsham is hot with anger, and Shep- 

 parton refuses to be satisfied, and the lot of the Chairman of the Railway 



Waterfall in the Black Spur. 



