The Australian Bush, 41 r 



runs up from Melbourne to the Murray, a distance of upwards 

 of two hundred miles, this is nothing in a land hke Australia. All 

 we have to do is, instead of Melbourne, to take the terminus of the 

 railway as our starting-point, and a few miles' journey from thence 

 will bring us into a bush and scrub far wider, and offering far better 

 attractions both to the naturahst and sportsman than the Melbourne 

 district ever did in its best of days. 



The proper number for a good bush party is three 3 but, strange 

 to say, although two men can and do live together in perfect \lx- 

 mony and goodwill for years, we rarely see three stick togetJier long 

 in Australia. If, however, three good men in the same station o'f 

 hfe— men who are, perhaps, neither labourers nor men of business, 

 but who can handle a gun and do not mind roughing it so long as 

 they are free— set out on a few years of such a life in real earnest, 

 I am certain they would never regret it 3 and I do not know whe- 

 ther they would not make as much at it as many a man in town 

 who, to all appearance, is holding a good and lucrative situation; 

 for, although the profit may not be great, the expenses are smal{ 

 and, if it were not for " the bursts " which are almost sure to occur 

 when a bushman visits town with the hard earnings of perhaps a 

 twelvemonth in his pocket, he might always save a little money. 



Well, we will suppose the party— whether it consists of two or 

 three— to be on their camping ground by the end of March, with a 

 good tent properly pitched, and a good stock of ammunition. It 

 will be always as well to camp within a mile or so of a station, for 

 the blacks are always more civilized in such a district; and, more- 

 over, for the convenience of buying a little flour, tobacco, tea, sugar, 

 and salt (which are the only provisions really necessary in a bush 

 tent, for meat the party must provide with their own guns), when- 

 ever they run short. Flour, &c., is, of course, considerably dearer 

 m the bush, but it is better to take the chance of buying it up-coun- 

 try (and it is always to be obtained at some station or another) than 

 bringing it up from town. The end of March is the best time to 

 get settled, for the summer heat is over, the winter rains have not 

 yet set m, and the roads are good. In the^^'inter, the plains up tlie 



