120 Australian Life 



lawn sprinkler pleasantly at work under the pep- 

 per tree that grows in the middle of the grass plot 

 bordered with masses of bright phlox and thriving 

 roses and pelargoniums. The bamboo blind, 

 which has been down all day to keep the sun off 

 the housefront, is now rolled up, and in an easy- 

 chair on the veranda reclines pater-familias, clad 

 in cool flannels. Doors and windows are open to 

 admit the evening breeze, but before each is a 

 wire screen to exclude flies and mosquitoes. 

 From the drawing-room comes the sound of 

 voices, mingled with the strains of the latest 

 comic opera. It is a glimpse of the Australian 

 at home. 



There is an air of roominess and privacy about 

 these suburbs that stands for a good deal of solid 

 comfort. The citizen swings in his hammock 

 and smokes his pipe without any consciousness 

 of being observed from the top floor of some 

 building close at hand, for a day's march through 

 the suburbs of an Australian city will fail to re- 

 veal anything in the shape of ' ' residential man- 

 sions." The most arduous task of the amateur 

 gardener is the constant use of the watering-can; 

 the rest is done by Nature with a lavish hand. 

 The vine and the fig tree are by no means im- 

 possible, and a rough erection of wooden laths 

 makes an ideal fern-house. These things figure 

 very largely in the life of the average Australian 

 city dweller, who leaves his city office at five, 

 changes into easy clothing as soon as he arrives 



