262 Australian Life 



quality. He was granted a large grazing area to 

 carry on his experiments, and encouraged by the 

 interest of Governor King, who then ruled the 

 Colony, his flock increased wonderfully. Within 

 a century, those few Spanish sheep smuggled 

 away to Australia were represented by flocks 

 numbering more than one hundred million, 

 spread over the pastures of the whole continent. 



Captain MacArthur was the father of the pas- 

 toral industry of Australia, and his efforts were 

 splendidly aided by the work of the explorers. 

 North, south, and west, they pushed, over the 

 rugged peaks of the Dividing Range into the 

 strange unknown country beyond. They fol- 

 lowed the great inland streams of New South 

 Wales to their junction with the river Murray, 

 and, so to their outlet in the sea. They crossed 

 the desert plains of the interior, and the fertile 

 plateaux of south-eastern Australia, always on 

 the look-out for land suitable for settlement. 

 Wherever they went the hardy band of free 

 settlers followed, glad to escape from the ferment 

 of the penal settlement on the coast. Some of 

 the explorers lost their lives in their bold endeav- 

 ours to penetrate the unknown, while others re- 

 turned to safety after performing deeds of heroism 

 and endurance that seem to have been well-nigh 

 miraculous. The practical value of their work 

 was shown by the expansion of the pastoral in- 

 dustry during the first half of the nineteenth cent- 

 ury, and by a progress in settlement that enabled 



