MR. F. E. BIGGE. 5I 



at the covert side. Mr. Bigge was one of the pioneers of 

 Austrahan settlement, being the owner of a cattle station in 

 Queensland called " Mount Brisbane," which had twenty 

 miles of frontage to the principal river and might for size be 

 compared to an English county. In 1876 Mr. Bigge 

 obligingly favoured the writer with several introductions to 

 his friends in that sunny clime, which insured a hearty 

 welcome and such hospitality as is invariably extended to 

 the stranger in that part of the globe, with or without 

 such a passport. 



The old " Squatter " used to relate an amusing 

 experience of his out there in the "early days." The 

 Governor and his lady gave a reception, but the score of 

 male guests when assembled could only muster one dress 

 coat between them, and it consequently had to do duty for 

 each loyal subject in succession. The tall, the short, the 

 slender, and they of more ample proportions, all had to 

 "line up" in the ante-room and "take their turn" in 

 paying their respects to the Queen's representative. 

 Whether they succeeded in maintaining a becoming 

 deportment or preserving their gravity, deponent sayeth 

 not! Proving that the best thing for the "inside of a 

 man" is the "outside of a horse," Mr. Bigge, when 

 approaching four score years, made a wager — and won it 

 too — that he would walk from Kibworth Hall to the 

 Railway Station, about a mile, in twelve minutes, or at the 

 rate of five miles an hour. 



The Hon. Alan Pennington (who, alas ! has recently 

 passed away) used, with Sir Wm. Milner, to hunt from 

 Billesdon, and with the Master and huntsman were 

 generally to be found in the first flight. Nothing gave the 

 writer greater satisfaction in his " teens " than when the 

 fortune of the day, combined with youth and light weight, 

 enabled him on a game old horse, once not unknown over 

 "the sticks," to keep within measurable distance of this 

 well mounted quartet. 



Amongst many men, all turned out well, few possessed 



