CHAPTER XIX 



A LONG RAMBLE IN QUEENSLAND 



I MUST hasten to Queensland, a colony which, as it adjoins 

 my native country, I have naturally visited more fre- 

 quently than any other part of the continent, and as I, 

 for a time, possessed a stock-yard within the " frontier 

 lines " of the queenly settlement, I have had opportunities 

 of a prolonged study of the native life of the region. 



Of course the convict had a leading hand in the 

 founding of Queensland, and equally of course there is a 

 good deal that is sordid in the early history of the colony. 

 It is so with each of our five great States of the future. 

 Forgive the word " five," little Tasmania. Though small 

 in size thy position may one day make thee great in 

 reputation. Without another word, I must drop references 

 to the history of the great northern colony. 



Viewed as a whole, Queensland is a characteristically 

 Australian country. It is as remarkable as any other of 

 the great divisions of the continent for animal and 

 vegetable curiosities and eccentricities and variations of 

 natural features, but its position under the tropic of 

 Capricorn has a marked influence on all its productions, 

 and in no other part of the land can a more luxuriant 

 growth of vegetation be shown than in Queensland. 



There are, or perhaps I should say were, in this colony 

 the thickest and most extensive forests on the continent. 

 Many of these have been burnt to clear the land, others 

 felled for their valuable timber, but to a recent date, at any 

 rate, many large woods remained in the least accessible 

 parts of the country. Much of the land is very park-like 



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