i7 2 Australian Life 



fail to impress itself upon any one who has been 

 called upon to endure it for long, and is all the 

 more remarkable because so many circumstances 

 exist in Australia favourable to its inexpensive 

 variation. 



If blazing fires and draught-proofrooms are not 

 essential to the comfort of the Australian home, 

 it is at least necessary to resort to expedients to 

 counteract the effect of the burning summer suns. 

 Many Australian houses have their roofs coated 

 with white paint, because that colour attracts the 

 rays of the sunlight least readily, and are 

 screened on all sides with thick roller blinds 

 made of strips of bamboo. Devices for excluding 

 dust and flies, while admitting the cool evening 

 air, are generally used, and in the middle and 

 northern parts of Australia, beds are customarily 

 furnished with mosquito nettings. In a well- 

 appointed Australian house, an ice-chest is a 

 necessity rather than a luxury, for in this way 

 only can the drinking water be kept cool and the 

 butter set upon the table in a state of solidity. 

 The ice-cart goes from door to door as regularly 

 as the milk-cart, throughout almost the whole of 

 the year. Finally, the Australian of the cities 

 does not consider a house fit for human habitation 

 unless it contains a bathroom and shower-bath, 

 and this statement holds good with every class of 

 Australian society. 



With these modifications, the Australian con- 

 tinues to cherish the home ideals just as the 



