IV PREFACE. 



charted, they saw nothing that promised sudden wealth, or that seemed to afford a basis 

 for permanent colonization. It was not till an Englishman sailed along the eastern coast 

 that a favourable report was given of the fitness of the country for settlement ; and 

 even the English, colonizers as they then were, and with their American experience to 

 guide and encourage them, would not have made this addition to their enterprise had 

 it not been that they were in search of a distant place whither to ship their criminals 

 so as to be troubled with them no more. It was to this social necessity, and not to 

 any greed of territory, that England owes it that her flag waves by all the "long wash 

 of Australian seas." Cook's discovery of the eastern coast remained unvalued and 

 unutilized until the idea was taken up that Botany Bay would be a good place to which 

 to ship off the accumulating inmates of the prisons. It is fortunate for the English 

 people that, having secured this prize, they were allowed to keep it for themselves. 

 All other national claims lapsed ; no rival flags have floated over this Island Continent, 

 and no military frontiers have been established. Within its own borders, the history of 

 the country has been peace. 



Australia, beginning as a prison, revealed in time that it was a splendid wool- 

 farm, and, when that industry had been established on secure foundations, it made the 

 further revelation that underneath the grass lay a magnificent gold-mine. This " precipi- 

 tated it into a nation," and from that time forth its material resources have been 

 steadily developed. And side by side with its increase in wealth has been its advance- 

 ment socially, intellectually and politically. 



Australia has just celebrated its Centenary, and looks back with some wonder, not 

 unmixed with pride, at what it has accomplished within the century. No time could be 

 more fitting to gather into one publication the record of that which has been, the 

 picture of that which is, and the adumbration of that which is to be. Such is the aim 

 of this book. It tells the story of the Great Southern Land in all its different subdivi- 

 sions, and, by the aid of pen and pencil, shows, to all who wish to know, how Australia 

 presents itself, and what are the shadowed indications of its coming destiny. This is a 

 task which has hitherto remained unaccomplished. So far as the historical portion is 

 concerned, reference has every-where been made, not only to the most trustworthy 

 records, but to living authorities wherever the memory of old colonists could be advan- 

 tageously laid under contribution, for there are men still living who were pioneers, and 

 who began to play their part when the country was in its first stage of development. 

 The movement described, though not without its oscillations, has, in the main, been one 

 of progress, and sometimes of rapid progress, and those who are engaged in working 

 out social and economical theories may find in the varied experience of the different 

 Australasian colonies many facts of great illustrative value. The writers and artists 

 engaged on this work have endeavoured to be true to Nature and to fact, and have 

 diligently sought out what was most worth presenting to the mind and to the eye. 

 Such as Australia is, it is here pourtrayed sometimes in its native condition, sometimes 

 as modified by the civilizing hand of man. The country as it was found is contrasted 

 with the country as it has been made the camping-ground of blackfellows with the 

 splendid and populous city ; the old hunting-grounds with the smiling orchards and 

 productive farms that have succeeded to them. 



