266 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP AUSTRALIA. 



lislied offices at Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide have for many years 

 given much attention to the subject. Thanks to the enlightened policy 

 of the Queensland government, much indeed has been done in record- 

 ing atmospheric phenomena at numerous stations spread out over an 

 enormously wide field, extending even outside of what is usually con- 

 sidered the geographical limits of Australasia proper. But no funda- 

 mental law has yet been established by which the meteorologist can 

 foretell any remarkable seasonal changes by which our pastoral and 

 agricultural industries are so largely influenced; nor yet, indeed, has 

 any satisfactory explanation been given of the probable cause of pro- 

 tracted droughts or seasons of maximum rainfall. Meteorology, it is 

 true, is yet in its infancy, in this part of the world at least, and if an 

 elucidation of our climatic changes is to depend upon an accumulation 

 of recorded data rather than upon abstract scientific principles based 

 upon deductive premises, then a generation of observers must pass 

 away before we can hope for any satisfactory results. In this connec- 

 tion an interesting and vitally important subject awaits consideration. 

 I refer to the influence of our Australian climate upon the European 

 inhabitants of the country, and more especially upon the native-born 

 Anglo- Australian. In this land a distinct austral branch of the race 

 has been planted, and nothing can be more interesting than to note 

 the extent of climatic influence upon the physique and natural charac- 

 teristics of that race. The geographical position of Australia places it 

 within the influence of two powerful atmospheric zones of unequal 

 temperature. Two thirds if not the whole of the continent is more or 

 less affected by the widely circulating equatorial air currents that fre- 

 quently sweep down upon our shores with rapidly developing energy 

 across the Indian Ocean. These strike our seaboard with enormous 

 cyclonic force, carrying with them great dense masses of vapor clouds 

 that condense and empty themselves in the form of heavy precipita- 

 tions, which cause abnormal floods over the low-lying face of the coun- 

 try. As it is natural to suppose, the northern or tropical division of 

 Australia is more largely influenced by these equatorial disturbances 

 than the other portion, although at times their extreme southern limit 

 reaches a high parallel of latitude. On the other hand, we are some- 

 times, although less frequently, visited by the cold antarctic disturb- 

 ances that overlap extensive southern areas of our country. That the 

 climate of this part of the continent is influenced by the south polar air 

 and ocean currents there can not, I submit, be the slightest doubt, and 

 an exhaustive investigation of this subject is of the most vital impor- 

 tance to science and commerce. Toward the solution of this interesting 

 problem much will doubtless be done by a more extended acquaintance 

 with the antarctic regions when further exploration of far southern 

 latitudes is accomplished. The presence of enormous masses of polar 

 ice in Australian waters in close proximity to the shore is not by any 

 means an uncommon occurrence, and when it is considered how com- 



