266 Australian Life 



suburbs. It was an era of frantic speculation, 

 and it ended in a collapse from which only a 

 highly recuperative country could ever have 

 recovered. A recital of the successive calamities 

 that struck Australia during the ultimate decade 

 of last century would read exceedingly like the 

 first chapter of the Book of Job. A great in- 

 dustrial conflict paralysed the shipping, mining, 

 and pastoral industries, and dislocated the whole 

 business of the continent. It was followed by a 

 financial crisis. Banks closed their doors, thou- 

 sands and tens of thousands were ruined, and the 

 country was plunged into a commercial stagna- 

 tion from which it has only now recovered. Then 

 came the drought ; and it came to stay. The 

 pastoral history of Australia knows no other 

 drought like it, for it lasted for ten years. Many 

 pastoralists concluded that it was a permanent 

 drought, and either by choice or necessity aban- 

 doned their pastoral holdings. It swept away 

 half the animal life of the country. No one will 

 ever know what it cost Australia. One illustra- 

 tion only may be supplied. The wheat crop of 

 Australia for 1902-1903 the last of the dry years 

 was worth ,2,000,000 in round figures. Next 

 year, from a smaller area of cultivated ground, 

 wheat worth ^12,000,000 was harvested. Wheat, 

 of course, is only one product among many. 



The greatest asset of a new country is popula- 

 tion, and it will never be known what Australia 

 lost in this direction by the drought. The popu- 



