AUSTRALIAN PICTURES. 



but in a continued downfall that lasted for several days. Such an ample 

 rain at that time of the year meant abundance of food and water for the 

 next twelve months. The squatter was a man of quick perception and 

 prompt to act in an emergency. His station was in telegraphic communication 

 with Melbourne, and, knowing how to operate, he purchased through the 

 stock agents about ninety thousand ewes to lamb from the best flocks in the 

 country. The story is told that he walked up and down his verandah 

 watching the rainfall, and as each successive inch was registered over a 

 certain point he telegraphed to Melbourne to purchase ten thousand more 

 sheep. He got the season's lambing and the fleece from the sheep he 

 bought, and then sold the greater portion for nearly double what he paid for 

 them a few months before. That splendid rain made all the difference 

 between ruin and wealth. 



1 Sheep-farming is carried on everywhere in Australia, while squatting 

 on Crown lands, as we have said, is confined to the vast area of Central 

 Australia and Western Australia. The shearing on one of the great 

 stations in the interior is a most important operation, there being a small 

 army of men employed while it lasts. Some of the wool-sheds are of great 

 extent, and provide shelter for seven thousand sheep. I have seen as many 

 as a hundred shearers at work at once. They work very hard, and earn a 

 considerable amount of money during the season. They form bands of from 

 forty to eighty men, and start in Queensland in July, gradually working their 

 way south. During shearing-time the wool-shed presents a very busy and 

 interesting scene. A hundred shearers are all working as if for a wager, for 

 the element of rivalry enters largely into the work ; a dozen half-clad blacks, 

 male and female, are picking up the fleeces and carrying them to the wool 

 tables, where they are skirted, rolled up, sorted and thrown into their 

 several bins. Immediately behind the wool-bins are the presses, in which 

 the wool is packed into bales, and at the rear the waggons are loading with 

 bales for the distant railway station. Outside the shed men are engaged in 

 branding the sheep after each man's work has been counted from his yard. 



1 The waggons load heavily, and have often teams of twenty bullocks 

 each, while there are always a few spare bullocks travelling loose to be used 

 as required, when one of the team gets a sore neck or knocks up. The 

 carriers form a distinct class in the back country. They generally travel in 

 bands of four or six teams, which are often owned by one man, who generally 

 accompanies the caravan in a buggy, or, if unable to afford that comfort, 

 drives one of the teams. 



1 A peculiar feature in station life in Australia is the existence of a class 

 of wanderers known as "swagmen," or "sundowners," who wander over the 

 face of the country under the pretence that they are looking for work ; but 

 they seldom accept it when offered. They lead a lazy, careless life, making 

 for the shelter of some station towards the close of the day, when they go 



