709 



AUSTRALIA. 



AUSTRALIA. 



710 



Gould. The Talegalla, Brush Turkey of the colonists, is a gregarious 

 bird, peculiar to Australia and the islands of the Indian Archipelago ; it is 

 most common in New South Wales. The most remarkable circumstance 

 connected with it is, that it does not hatch its eggs by incubation, 

 but collects, in a heap of decaying vegetable matter, the eggs of several 

 weeks' laying, and leaves them to be hatched by the artificial warmth. 

 The mounds contain the eggs of many birds, and nearly a bushel are 

 said to be sometimes taken from a single heap. The Leipoa, or Native 

 Pheasant, is a smaller bird than the Talegalla, but like it deposits its 

 eggs in a sort of mound. The nest of the Leipoa is formed of sand, 

 and is about three feet high ; it is constructed and used by only a single 

 pair of birds. The Leipoa, is a native of Western Australia. The 

 Megapodiia, the Jungle-Fowl of the colonists, is a native of North 

 Australia ; it has been mostly found about Port Essington. This 

 bird forms mounds, in which to deposit its eggs, of almost incredible 

 size. Mr. Gilbert obtained eggs from a mound 60 feet in circum- 

 ference at the base, and 15 feet high ; and since then Mr. Macgillivray 

 found one which measured 150 feet in circumference, and was 14 feet 

 high. As its name implies, the jungle-fowl inhabits almost exclu- 

 sively the dense thickets immediately adjacent to the sea-beach. 



The tribe of birds most important in human economy after the 

 gallinaceous or Ratoret, are the Natatora, or water-fowl, and of these 

 Australia and the neighbouring isles contain a rather better supply. 

 It will be sufficient in this place to mention the cereopsis goose and 

 the black swan, the 'rara avis' so little dreamt of by the Roman 

 poet, which now breeds spontaneously in England, and is becoming 

 sufficiently common upon the ponds of the curious. It is rather 

 smaller than the common white swan, but has a neck proportionately 

 longer, and a carriage <f possible still more graceful. One of the 

 most valuable birds to the natives, but which is fast disappearing before 

 civilised man, is the Emeu (Dromaiia Australu), a kind of ostrich, 

 only inferior in size to the African ostrich ; it was formerly met with 

 everywhere, but is now pretty much confined to the interior of the 

 country. Pelicans, herons, the straw-necked ibis, spoonbills, storks, 

 and several varieties of honey-suckers are common. 



Of the Reptiles and Fishes of Australia no detailed or regular 

 accounts have been published. A species of crocodile or alligator 

 frequents the western coasts of the continent ; and Captain Stokes 

 met with alligators in the rivers of the northern coast. Various 

 descriptions of smaller reptiles, and several kinds of snakes, some of 

 which are venomous, are found in different parts of the country. 



Fish are abundant along the coasts ; and four or five species of 

 sharks have been described as frequenting the neighbourhood of 

 Botany Bay and Port Jackson, but comparatively little is known 

 respecting this department of Australian zoology. 



The Entomology of Australia also remains comparatively unknown 

 or undescribed. The insects are numerous, but there appears to be 

 nothing sufficiently marked in the entomology of the country to 

 entitle it to a detailed notice in a sketch like the present. 



Inhabitants. The natives of Australia, from their resemblance to 

 the African negro, have obtained the name of Australian negroes, or 

 Austral negroes. They are extended over the continent, as well as 

 over Van Diemen's Land, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, New 

 Britain, Solomon's Archipelago, and New Guinea. 



The Austral negroes, though regarded as a branch of the African 

 negroes, resemble them only in the colour of the skin and their 

 woolly hair ; yet even their skin is not quite black like that of the 

 Africans, but of a sooty-brown. They differ widely from one another 

 in the form of the head and face, and of the whole frame. Their 

 forehead rises higher, and the hinder part of the head projects more 

 than in the negro. The nose projects more from the face, anil the 

 lips are not BO thick. The upper lip is larger and more prominent, 

 and the lower project* forward from the lower jaws to such an extent 

 as to divide the face into two parts. Their limbs and the whole frame 

 of their body are lean, and display nothing of the muscular strength by 

 which the African negroes are distinguished. The greatest difference 

 in the formation of the human body is found to exist between the 

 Caucasian race and the Austral negroes. In their general habits the 

 tribes bear a great resemblance ; but their dialects are often so different 

 that the natives of the coast and of the interior are quite unable to 

 understand each other. 



The Austral negroes may be considered as still living in the lowest 

 state of civilisation. Cannibalism is practised among them, and they 

 do not deny it ; they usually neither construct habitations nor wear 

 raiment, at least not the men ; the women commonly wrap themselves 

 up in a species of cloak made of opossum skin, or in a blanket. 

 Wherever they intend to pass the night they kindle a fire, and place 

 a slip of bark or a bough to windward for shelter. This want of 

 habitations is mainly to be attributed to their being continually on 

 the more in search of food ; for in some places along the coast, where 

 fish and oysters are so abundant as to afford them a constant supply 

 of food for the greater part of the year, they have erected convenient 

 huts of tea-tree bark, which they clean daily. They have no chiefs, 

 elected or hereditary, ami the authority of a rnan depends upon 

 his personal strength and his cunning. They believe in a good spirit, 

 Koyan, and in a bad one, Polnyan. The 1'unncr i* thought to watch 

 orer and protect them from the operations of the latter, and to assist 

 them in recovering strayed children, whom the other is supposed to 



decoy for the purpose of devouring them. They are not delicate in 

 food. When pressed by hunger they devour grubs, snakes, stinking 

 whales, and even vermin, with eagerness. They are lively, good- 

 humoured, inquisitive, and intelligent, and acquire the knowledge of 

 reading and writing almost as speedily as Europeans ; their senses are 

 extremely acute, and they possess great powers of mimicry. 



Their number is not great, and it is steadily decreasing ; several 

 tribes have already wholly disappeared. Many efforts have been made 

 to protect them, and to induce them to adopt settled and industrious 

 habits, but without much success. Schools have been established by 

 the government, but the young people almost invariably, when passing 

 out of childhood, throw off their clothes and return to their native 

 haunts and habits. A few girla become house servants, but they are 

 easily induced to leave for the woods. Of late there has, however, 

 been a somewhat important change. The impossibility of obtaining 

 a sufficient number of white shepherds and labourers caused many 

 stock-keepers to offer good money wages to the natives, instead of 

 merely giving them food and 'clothes, as was before the custom, and 

 to adapt the service to their feelings. The result is said to have been 

 very generally beneficial. They show little inclination, or rather 

 considerable dislike, for manual labour; but they make very good 

 hut-keepers, are careful and gentle aa shepherds, and make excellent 

 stock-keepers ; and large numbers are now so employed, as well as in 

 wool-washing, and other work connected with sheep and cattle farming. 

 It remains to be seen however whether it will be possible to overcome 

 to any extent their migratory habits, which have heretofore always 

 prevented any permanent settlement. The government land com- 

 missioners, hi their official reports, speak highly of the conduct of the 

 aborigines where employed either as shepherds or stockmen ; 

 instances are mentioned where ten or twelve of them have remained 

 steadily under one employer from a year to three years, and even 

 longer. Some of the large cattle- and sheep-holders in New South 

 Wales had not in 1852 a single white man in their employment. In 

 some cases natives have been receiving 201. a year, and the Commis- 

 sioners seem to be agreed in stating, that " both the disposition of the 

 aboriginal native to work, and of the settler to make use of his labour, 

 is decidedly increasing. The system of paying them by a money 

 wage has tended greatly to produce this change in the habits of the 

 native ; and as the settlers are now fully alive to the fact, there can 

 be no doubt that the practice will be continued." (Report of Mr. 

 Commissioner Merewether.) This statement is confirmed by the fact, 

 that hi districts where the system of money payments has not been 

 adopted, the settlers still find great difficulty in retaining the natives as 

 sen-ants, and complain of their idleness and misconduct. In Victoria 

 the reports are hardly as favourable as in New South Wales ; but in 

 South Australia there seems to be much satisfaction felt at the change 

 hi the aborigines. The ' Protector of the Aborigines ' in that colony 

 states that upwards of 200,000 sheep were in June 1852 under the 

 sole charge of native shepherds. A training institution for aborigines 

 has been established at Adelaide, chiefly by the exertions of Arch- 

 deacon Hale, who resides on the establishment. He says that even 

 his "own sanguine expectations did not lead him to anticipate a 

 success so complete and triumphant as that which has attended our 

 efforts, nor so rapid an increase in the number of our inmates." 

 Besides the school-room, mess-room, &c., there are 20 huts occupied 

 by native married couples. There is also a small farm, the work of 

 which, with herding, cattle-keeping, &c., is done by the inmates of the 

 institution, who are also taught brick-making, building, and other 

 useful occupations. In New South Wales a " native police corps has 

 been established," which the Governor-General reports to have "done 

 much in maintaining order among the aborigines. There appears," 

 he adds, " to be no difficulty in recruiting for this force, as the young 

 men of the different tribes are found anxious to enlist." Quarterly 

 reports respecting the condition of the aborigines are made by the 

 district commissioners to the governors of the several colonies, by whom 

 they are regularly transmitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies'. 



Dirisiom, Government, <kc. The entire island of Australia is a 

 British possession. It is divided by the British government into the 

 colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western 

 Australia, and the district of North Australia. New South Wales 

 occupies the south-eastern portion of the island, extending from the 

 shores of the Pacific to 141 E. long., and northward to 26 S. lat. 

 Victoria is separated on the north and north-east from New South 

 Wales by the Murray River, and a line carried from its source on the 

 Australian Alps in a south-eastern direction to Cape Howe. Its 

 southern boundary is the Southern Sea ; on the west it is divided from 

 South Australia by the meridian of 141 E. long. South Australia 

 extends from 141 to 132 E. long., and northward to 26 S. lat. 

 Western Australia occupies the entire country west of 132 E. long. 

 North Australia occupies the entire country north of 26 S. Int., and 

 east of 132 E. long. The population is chiefly collected about the 

 south-eastern coast in the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria ; 

 Western Australia is very thinly peopled. North Australia is not 

 colonised, the settlement of Port Essington having been abandoned ; 

 on this coast there are consequently no European inhabitants, but a 

 considerable number of Malay fishermen have settled upon it. The 

 total population (exclusive of natives and Malays) in 1860 was 

 336,107, of whom 265,503 belonged to New South Wales and Victoria 



