AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS AND INDUSTRIES. 221 



3. Agricultural Pursuits and Industries. 



Australia is at present primarily a pastoral country. New 

 South Wales leads the way in the number of sheep, while Queens- 

 land occupies first place with regard to cattle. The latter are bred 

 principally for beef in the Northern Territory and in Queensland, 

 but Victoria has more milking cows than Queensland. Dairying 

 is making great strides throughout the Commonwealth. Both 

 sheep and cattle suffered severely from the drought of 1902 — 1903, 

 when their numbers were greatly reduced, in the case of sheep 

 from 98 million to 53| millions. By 1910, however, the loss had 

 been made good. In that year the exports of Australian wool 

 w^ere valued at 28 milHon pounds sterling. Next in importance 

 to wool comes the export of frozen mutton and lamb. It was 

 begun in 1879 on a small scale, and it has now reached large 

 proportions. 



Second in importance to sheep farming is the cultivation of 

 wheat, which is grown in all the States. They all export wheat 

 now with the exception of Tasmania and possibly Queensland, 

 The harvest of 1911 — 1912, the largest on record, yielded 

 95,100,000 bushels from 7,370,000 acres. A rainfall as low as 

 16 inches on Ught soil gives paying crops of hard wheat. In 

 Western Australia, where the rainfall is regular, even an annual 

 rainfall of 12 to 14 inches suffices. 



Numerous other crops are grown, but on smaller areas than 

 wheat, such as oats, maize, green fodder plants, potatoes, sugar- 

 cane, barley, rye, flax, fruits of many varieties, grapes for wines 

 &c. The total area under crops has risen from 188,000 acres in 

 1860—1861 to 18,528,000 in 1915—1916 ; since then a temporary 

 falling off has occurred, due to the war. 



Coal was the first mineral discovered in Australia. New South 

 Wales provides nine-tenths of the total output, but seams have 

 been opened in every State. Gold was first found in 1851 in New 

 South Wales, then in Victoria and finally in all States. Copper 

 is available in immensely rich deposits. Silver, silver-lead, and 

 also zinc are obtained from the Broken Hill mines in New South 

 Wales. Tin is mined in all the States. Extensive iron deposits 

 are available in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, 

 Western Australia and Tasmania. 



Indirectly it is due to the discovery of gold in Australia that the 



