Driving Cattle. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The Squatter and the Settler. 



Present meaning of the word 'Squatter' — Cattle-raising— Capital has Confidence in Squatting 

 now — Origin of Merino Sheep-breeding — Management of a Run — Drought — Box-tree Clearings 

 — Modern Enterprise — Sheep-shearing — ' Sundowners '—Farming Prospects — Cheap Land— Easy 

 Harvesting— Small Capital — Selection Conditions— Bush Fires — Black Thursday — The Otway 

 Disaster— Lost in the Bush— Missing Children. 



THE terms 'squatter' and 'squatting' are now misleading. They cover 

 a number of different occupations, and perhaps the words ' grazier ' and 

 ' grazing ' ought to be substituted. The original squatter paid his £10 licence 

 fee, and he was at liberty to go where he pleased and to take up as much 

 land as he required for his sheep and for two years' increase. Whether he 

 had five hundred sheep or five thousand did not matter. Australia was 

 large, and the adventurous pioneer was at liberty to pick and choose. The 

 flocks were ' shepherded ' — that is, were not confined between fences, but 

 were looked after by men who drove them to their feed during the day, and 



