QUEENSLAND. 129 



have been highly successful. Cotton growing, which at one time was 

 vigorously fostered by the Government in the southern coast districts, 

 flourished so long as a bonus was paid on every bale exported, but when 

 that support was withdrawn it was killed by the labour difficulty. Olives, 

 almonds, figs, and fruits especially suited to a sub-tropical climate flourish in 

 the same southern coast districts, but no attempt has been made to cultivate 

 them on a commercial scale. An effort was made to establish silk production, 

 and it resulted in the production of just enough silk to secure the promised 

 bonus, and there the industry stopped. In fact, agriculture throughout the 

 colony is crippled by its very prosperity. The high rate of wages prevalent, 

 and the demand for labour in other fields, precludes the possibility of pursuing 

 any agricultural industry which requires many hands, unless the product is 

 exceptionally high-priced. 



The mineral wealth of Queensland is surprising. Its gold-fields are of 

 vast extent, and as yet hardly touched. There are innumerable copper lodes ; 

 stream and lode tin are being successfully worked ; silver ores abound, and 

 are being mined now ; iron has been found in great quantities ; extensive 

 coal-fields exist, and are being worked in the vicinity of Brisbane and 

 Maryborough ; lead, nickel, cobalt, and bismuth ores have been found. The 

 gold prospectors found their way to Queensland soon after the great alluvial 

 fields of the south began to show signs of exhaustion, but for many years 

 they found little to reward their efforts. There was, however, a prevailing 

 idea among regular gold-miners— who, very soon after the first discoveries, 

 began to form a distinct class in the population — that rich finds would be 

 made in the northern colony. This belief led to the Canoona ' rush ' in 

 1858, probably the most remarkable wild-goose chase in which the excitable 

 Australian miners ever engaged. There was a report that gold had been 

 found near the shores of Keppel Bay, then occupied only by a few cattle 

 stations, and at once all the miners of Australia became excited. Steamers 

 and sailing vessels, filled with eager men, discharged their living freights on 

 the desolate shore, and in an incredibly short space of time many thousands 

 of miners, scantily provided with the necessaries of life, had ascertained that 

 the rush was a ' duffer ' — that there was no gold — and were spreading over 

 the face of the country, prospecting it in all directions. They found no gold, 

 and were reduced to such straits that the Government of New South Wales, 

 which then included Queensland, was compelled to charter craft to carry 

 them away. But if they found no gold, they discovered and made known 

 the value of the country, and laid the foundation of what is now the thriving 

 town of Rockhampton. Gold was found in sufficient quantities to repay 

 mining at Peak Downs, about two hundred miles inland from Rockhampton, 

 where, it may be mentioned, the proprietors discovered a wonderfully rich 

 lode of copper ore that was afterwards mined and produced many thousand 

 tons of metal. 



