680 AUSTRALIA 



AUSTRALIA ' 



Including as it does the adjacent island of Tasmania, the area of the Australian 

 Commonwealth is now computed at 2,974,581 square miles, 1,149,320 of which are 

 within the tropical zone (about five-thirteenths of the total). Since the Common- 

 wealth was proclaimed in 1901 there have been three changes affecting the political 

 boundaries of Australia. In 1905 Papua (the British portion of the island of New 

 Guinea) was taken over from the British Government and constituted a Territory 

 of the Commonwealth. In 1909 the Commonwealth took over an area in the south 

 of New South Wales which was constituted a Federal Territory, and on which will 

 be built the Federal Capital. In 1910 the Northern Territory was taken over from 

 South Australia and constituted a Federal Territory. 



Papua. Soon after taking control of Papua the Australian Government appointed 

 Colonel Murray as Lieutenant-Governor, with Mr. Staniforth Smith as a special officer to 

 encourage industrial development. The suitableness of Papua for various forms of tropical 

 agriculture is undoubted, but there is a "labour difficulty" in the way of progress. The 

 Papuan, like most South Sea Islanders, has an aversion to steady work. In Fiji, a British 

 Colony in the South Pacific, a position similar to that existing in Papua has been met by the 

 importing of industrious coolies from India to develop the sugar plantations. The Austra- 

 lian Government, however, is determined to keep Papua for the Papuans. It was proposed 

 in 1908 that the Papuan should be forced to do a certain amount of work, either for himself, 

 for private planters, or for the Government, the argument being advanced that since Nature 

 was so bountiful as to keep him in reasonable comfort without work, he would never be driven 

 to labour by necessity and must, therefore, be brought under some other form of compul- 

 sion. The Australian Government vetoed the proposal. The officials responsible for the 

 government of Papua state now that they have hopes that the natives will be tempted into 

 the paths of industry by desire for the white man's cloth, steel, etc.; ordinances have been 

 framed to regulate the conditions of native labour; and during 1911 nearly 8,000 natives 

 were engaged under contract in some form of labour. But the labour position does not hold 

 out much hope of the growth of a great sugar-growing or cotton-growing industry. 



The white population of Papua is about 1,000 and the native population about 500,000. 

 There are about 15,000 acres under cultivation, mostly planted with coco-nut trees. Rubber, 

 cotton, sisal, coffee are also grown and mining and pearl-shelling are considerable industries. 

 The system of land tenure is by leasehold; freeholds are not granted; the conditions of 

 leasing are not onerous. 



The Federal Territory and Federal Capital Site. The Constitution having provided that 

 the capital of the Commonwealth should be within the State of New South Wales, at least 

 one hundred miles from Sydney, the New South Wales Government in 1909 surrendered 

 to the Commonwealth Government some 900 square miles of territory around Yass-Can- 

 berra, and also an area of two square miles on the shores of Jervis Bay for the construction 

 of a Federal port; and with these areas went the right to construct a railway from this port 

 to the Federal territory. 



In 1910 the Federal Government took possession of the Territory, it established there 

 in 1911 a military college, and instituted a competition among the architects of the world 

 for the best plans for building a new Federal city. Unfortunately, because of a disagree- 

 ment, many British architects of the first standing did not take part in the competition. 

 The design which found most favour was the work of a Chicago (U.S.A.) architect, Mr. 

 Walter Burley Griffin. At the proposed Federal capital will be housed the Governor- 

 General, the Parliament, and as far as possible all the Federal government departments. 

 The preliminary work of construction is in hand. 



The Northern Territory. With an area of 523,620 square miles (more than one-sixth 

 of the continent), having some very fertile land, and with a better river system than most 

 other parts of Australia, the Northern Territory is almost empty and undeveloped. The 

 total population (other than aborigines) was 2,846 in 1910, of which the largest element was 

 Chinese, the total white population being 1,182. The backwardness of the Territory as 

 compared with the rest of Australia is due chiefly to political causes. When the Australian 

 colonies first set up separate households it was convenient to none of them to include the 

 Territory, and it was left in the hands of the Imperial Government. In 1863 South Austra- 

 lia took over the responsibility for the Territory, having formed a plan to connect it with 

 Adelaide by a north-to-south trans-continental railway. With such a railway it would 

 have been brought within the ambit of South Australian development. Without that 

 railway it was actually more remote from communication with South Australia than with 

 any other of the States. The railway was begun. It reached Pine Creek from Port Darwin 

 at the north end, and Oodnadatta from Adelaide at the south end; then hope of its com-' 

 pletion was abandoned. As soon as the Commonwealth came into existence it sought a 



1 See E. B. ii, 941 et seq. 



