AUSTRALIA. 



53 



worthy of note. They are ill-treated, though 

 they have proved themselves useful to the colo- 

 ny by their skill, industry, and spirit of enter- 

 prise. 



The revenues of the colony amounted, in 1868, 

 to 3,320,354, the expense to 3,272,693. The 

 revenues for 1869 are estimated at 3,294,161, 

 the expenses at 3,293,042. The capital city, 

 Melbourne, has in wonderful development been 

 excelled- only by a few American cities. It con- 

 tains (with the suburbs) 170,000 inhabitants. 



Port Darwin is said by recent explorers to be 

 the best port in the Australian colonies. It lies 

 southwest from Adam Bay, into which the 

 Adelaide River empties. 



The foreign trade of the colony of Victoria 

 continues to show an increase. In the lirst 

 eleven months of 1868, the imports amounted 

 in value to 11,391,938, an increase of 1,416,- 

 503 over the corresponding period in 1867. 

 The exports amounted to 12,814,750, an in- 

 crease of 2,625,211. 



The Victoria Parliament passed a bill for a 

 loan of 2,100,000 for railway purposes. Ar- 

 rangements for intercolonial free trade were 

 being organized. 



New South Wales. This colony embraces 

 an area of 207,000,000 acres. The eastern 

 coast runs a distance of 700 miles from Point 

 Danger to Cape Howe. The colony extends 

 500 miles from the sea into the interior. The 

 coast is high and rocky; but there is a number 

 of bays, affording excellent, spacious, and safe 

 harbors. The country is undulating, and 

 abounds in rivers, fertile valleys, and extensive 

 grass plains. North of Sydney, and east of the 

 Blue Mountains, there are nine rivers watering 

 fertile agricultural districts with prospering 

 towns. There is a regular steam connection 

 between these rivers and Sydney. These dis- 

 tricts are well adapted for the culture of 

 cotton, tobacco, sugar-cane, and other trop- 

 ical productions, as well as the grape-vine ; the 

 southern portion is celebrated all over Austra- 

 lia for its rich yield of cereals. Cattle are ex- 

 cellent. But the richest resources of the colo- 

 ny are its immense pasture-grounds. Tallow, 

 hides, bones, leather, and meat, are valuable 

 export articles, while wool is the great staple 

 of the country. The export of wool amounts 

 now to 30,000,000 a year; while the export 

 of wool of all Australia amounts to 100,000,- 

 000. The squatters (sheep-breeders) are a 

 very wealthy class, and form the territorial 

 aristocracy of the colony. The area owned as 

 free property (i. e., disposed of by the crown) 

 consisted, in 1867, of about 46,000,000 acres, 

 only 230,000 of which were cultivated; of 

 the 120,000,000 acres of leased land, only 

 160,000 were cultivated. "Wheat, corn, oats, 

 barley, and tobacco, were the chief articles 

 of cultivation. The culture of the grape has 

 increased, while that of sugar is beginning to 

 grow important in the northern parts. The 

 interior of New South Wales suffers terribly 

 from want of water. The drought of 1868 and 



1869 lasted in some parts through the whole 

 year, causing an^ immense destruction among 

 the animals. This colony is rich in gold, silver, 

 copper, iron, lead, tin, and quicksilver; all these 

 treasures are as yet but very little worked. 

 There is an abundance of coal, the great coal 

 stratum extending as far as Queensland. Of 

 the 1,780,000 tons yielded a year on an aver- 

 age during the last ten years, more than 

 one-half was taken to India, China, and the 

 neighboring colonies. Twenty thousand tons 

 of coal are raised at Newcastle every week. 

 The strata of iron are exceedingly valuable. A 

 silver-mine has been opened on the southern 

 coast, 200 miles distant from Sydney ; and a 

 rich stratum of red sulphuret of mercury (cin- 

 nabar) was discovered in the beginning of 1869. 

 The yield of gold amounted, in 1866, to 235,898 

 ounces. The population was, in 1866, 420,000 

 souls. The constitution is similar to that of 

 Victoria, except that the members of the Le- 

 gislative Council are appointed by the Crown 

 (the Governor). The railroads and telegraphs 

 are in the hands of the government, and yield 

 a considerable revenue. The Southern Railroad, 

 from Sydney to Goulburn, is 128 miles long. 

 The revenues of the colony amounted, in 1868, 

 to 2,107,157; its debt to 9,585,890, con- 

 tracted for railroads and other public works. 

 The exports from England to the colony rose, 

 in 1868, to 2,872,000. Sydney, the capital of 

 the colony, is seven miles from the mouth of 

 the beautiful Bay of Port Jackson. An inter- 

 national exhibition was opened in this city in 

 May, 1869. 



Queensland. This colony occupies the north- 

 eastern part of the continent; its length, from 

 the southern boundary to Cape York, is 1,200 

 miles; its area, 678,000 square miles (about 

 four times that of France). The great bays 

 form numerous harbors. Moreton Bay, at 

 the head of which is Brisbane, the capital, is 60 

 miles long and 20 miles wide, and encircled by 

 fertile coasts. East of the range of mountains 

 running at a distance of 60 to 70 miles from 

 the coast, numerous broad and partly navigable 

 rivers run through rich alluvial bottoms, while 

 west of the mountains there is an expansive 

 table-land, the Downs. Ipswich, the second 

 city of the colony, has about 6,000 inhabitants. 

 The country around Maryborough is excellent 

 for agriculture. Gladstone is the harbor of the 

 bay Port Curtis, which, being deep, wide, and 

 safe, is considered to be, after Sydney, the best 

 port on the eastern coast of Australia. The 

 climate is healthy. Rockhampton, 30 miles 

 from the mouth of the Fitzroy (in Keppel 

 Bay) is a notable city, the future metropolis 

 of Northern Australia. The coast near the 

 Gulf of Carpentaria is not adapted for sheep- 

 breeding or agriculture; but it abounds in 

 minerals. 



On the whole, Queensland is exceedingly 

 well adapted for sheep-breeding; its pasture- 

 lands of an enormous extent and excellent 

 quality. The interior is grass-land. Soil and 



