PASTORAL MORALS 269 



erance, resistance to natural forces and great calamities, 

 self-help, and unselfishness — a community could hardly 

 have a more solid foundation. 



The morals of the pastoralist days had the simplicity 

 of primitive communities. " How honest," remarks 

 Boldrewood of the early primitive forties, " were nearly 

 all men in those days ! " * Did a man wash to dispose 

 of a run, he rode with the would-be purchaser all over 

 the ground, and pointed out all its faults. It was far 

 otherwise twenty years later. Then, as Lady Barker 

 relates, the owner of a station would juggle a compara- 

 tive new-comer into the purchase of a run that was 

 not worth a fraction of the sum given for it, and could 

 hardly belived upon.f In the pastoralist Golden Age 

 of Western Victoria the uncommercial relations were 

 also at their sweetest and best. " How strong and un- 

 questioning was friendship ! . . . How divine was love ! " 



We must remember that the individuals were young 

 and the community was young. Those were days M^hen 

 they tasted true happiness, and their like has never 

 been seen since. None were too rich. None could 

 afford to live ni Melbourne. Everyone was his own 

 overseer. All were friendly and genial, cheery and 

 contented. I 



At the same time, we must not accept Mr. Browne's 

 rosewater accounts too guilelessly. They may have been 

 true of the best class of squatters, and yet were not true 

 even of them Avdthout qualification. Among Rolf Boldre- 

 wood's golden men were the Hentys, and it was through 

 Mr. Henty that one of the Victorian pioneers, his neigh- 

 bour, lost a great portion of the land he had chosen for 

 a station. It was evidently of him that J. G. Robertson 

 was thinking when he said that " the most confhcting 

 evidence was given before the Crown Lands Commis- 

 sioner by unprincipled men. ..." § 



* Old Melbourne Memories, ch. ii. 

 t Station Life. 



X Old Melbourne Memories, chs. iii. xi. 

 § Victorian Pioneers, p. 24. 



