LONELY AUSTRALIA: THE UNIQUE CONTINENT 



547 



Boronga bore, which yields over 1,000,- 

 ooo gallons daily. In this same basin 

 Queensland has 985 flowing wells, 64 of 

 which are classed as yielding over 1,500,- 

 000 gallons per day and 6 over 3,000,000 ; 

 twelve of them are over 4,000 feet deep, 

 and the Bimerah No. 3 was sunk to a 

 depth of 5,045 feet. 



Water from these deep wells is natu- 

 rally hot. Temperatures between 120 

 and 150 are fairly common, and eight 

 wells of Oueensland furnish water above 

 190 °. 



The temperature of well water is un- 

 important, but its quality is a factor of 

 moment, and unfortunately the water 

 from many of the deep wells contain al- 

 kali or salt in quantities which render 

 them useless except for stock which have 

 become accustomed to impure water. It 

 is most discouraging to obtain at great 

 expense a well of large flow only to find 

 its waters unfit for irrigation or domestic 

 use. The grip of the desert is felt not 

 only on the surface, but at depths below. 



THE PROBLEM OE THE TROPICS 



The northern edge of the Australian 

 continent corresponds in latitude to Costa 

 Rica, the coast of Venezuela, and the cen- 

 tral Philippines ; its southern edge, ex- 

 cluding Tasmania, has about the position 

 of Washington (D. C), San Francisco, 

 Peking, and central Portugal (see map, 

 page 477). The portion of the continent 

 within the tropics is therefore large — 

 38.6 per cent of the lands of the Com- 

 monwealth — but conditions are such that 

 even the Malays have found it less attrac- 

 tive than the more tropical regions far- 

 ther north. 



In the Northern Territory the natural 

 obstacles are too serious to be overcome 

 without capital and expert knowledge. 

 The summer monsoon, caused by over- 

 heating of the great desert belt in the 

 center of the continent, brings heavy 

 rains during the three summer months, 

 culminating in January. During this sea- 

 son grass literally bounds up, some varie- 

 ties attaining heights of 10 feet in three 

 months — so coarse and rank as to be use- 

 less for stock — and must be removed by 

 burning. The ground becomes so soaked 

 that traffic is impossible, farming imple- 



ments are bogged, and river flats with 

 good soil are submerged. These flood 

 conditions are succeeded by drought, and 

 from March to October the monthly rain 

 is measured by fractions of an inch, and 

 in some years fails altogether. On leav- 

 ing the coast the rainfall rapidly de- 

 creases and desert conditions prevail over 

 nearly half of the area within the tropics. 



The few settlers in the Northern Terri- 

 tory are making an heroic struggle in 

 this unfavorable environment. Port Dar- 

 win, the capital city, on one of the best 

 harbors in the world, is a village of iron 

 houses, with a population of about 1,000, 

 less than half of whom are whites, and 

 the white population of the territory, the 

 size of three Swedens, is about 2,000. It 

 is reached by steamer from Brisbane — 

 an eight to eleven days' journey, and ac- 

 cess to the back country is attained by a 

 narrow-gauge road, running trains semi- 

 weekly to Katherine River, 200 miles ; by 

 two boats a year, subsidized to visit 

 coastal ports on the Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 and by pack-horse mail, whose going de- 

 pends upon seasons and the state of 

 roads. The distance inland to the nearest 

 railroad at Oodnadatta is 1,300 miles, 

 and a large part of the cattle are driven 

 1,000 miles or more to market. 



The coast of northern Queensland is 

 truly tropical ; its heat and humidity are 

 high. The average annual rainfall from 

 latitude 25 ° northward is over 50 inches, 

 and for about 100 miles of coast exceeds 

 90 inches. At Harvey Creek it is 165 

 inches, and annual falls of 211 inches at 

 Innisfail, 238 inches at Harvey Creek, 

 and 241 inches at Goondi have been re- 

 corded. On twenty-two different occa- 

 sions single downpours exceeding 17 

 inches have been experienced at various 

 stations. These superabundant supplies 

 furnished by monsoons and trade winds 

 unfortunately are not distributed inland, 

 but are confined to the coast by moun- 

 tains. More than one-half of Queens- 

 land is within the tropics, making an area 

 larger than Central America, Cuba, Ja- 

 maica, and Porto Rico combined. 



The story of sugar is an important 

 phase of the problem of the tropics. This 

 industry in tropical Queensland was built 

 up by the use of indentured Asiatic and 



