1 62 Australian Life 



Australian birth-rate, noticeable during the latter 

 part of the nineteenth century, pointing as it does 

 to a corresponding decline in the physical or moral 

 fibre of the Australian woman. Mr. Coghlan, the 

 statistician whose paper upon the subject first 

 called public attention to this development of 

 Australian life, decided as a result of his early in- 

 vestigations that Australian-born women do not 

 bear so many children as the European women 

 who emigrate to Australia. Fuller inquiry, how- 

 ever, convinced him that in this conclusion he 

 had been mistaken. The decline of the birth-rate 

 is more intimately connected with the rapid 

 growth of the capital cities, where the conditions 

 of life approximate more closely to those of the 

 Old World. Mr. Coghlan's carefully reasoned 

 paper upon the subject has resulted in the ap- 

 pointment of a commission, empowered to inquire 

 fully into all the circumstances affecting this 

 phase of Australian life. 



Among the most prominent characteristics of 

 the Australian woman is her talent for music, 

 amounting in many instances to positive genius. 

 This statement is not made merely because Aus- 

 tralia has given to the world singers who, like 

 Madame Melba, unite the highest artistic instinct 

 with the most remarkable natural gifts, and have 

 so become famous. It is rather because, go where 

 you will in Australia, you will hear good voices, 

 used with instinctive art, and instruments played, 

 even where skilled instruction is lacking, with 



