Photograph by H. E. Gregory 

 A BUBBLING SPRING OB SAI/T WATER: CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN DESERT 



near the end of the line have buildings 

 like those on the Panama Canal, with 

 well - equipped hospitals, dining - rooms, 

 and offices. The "tea and sugar train" 

 is continually bringing supplies from the 

 storehouse at Port Augusta, for the daily 

 menu of the highly paid workman in- 

 cludes not only freshly baked bread and 

 fresh meat, but also fresh vegetables and 

 fresh fruit. 



At the end of the constructed track the 

 home-like train is left and a string of 

 thirteen camels carries us on into the 

 desert towards Ooldea and the Xullarbor 

 plains. At Ooldea soak there is water 

 among the sand-dunes and we go into 

 camp, nearly 200 miles from the nearest 

 settlement. Over the 630 miles separat- 

 ing Ooldea from Kalgoorlie travel by 

 motor is feasible after supplies of water 

 and gasoline have been laid down at 

 stated points by camels. There is no 

 road, but the Nullarbor plains are re- 

 markably level and their surface is prac- 

 tically free of sands. 



The expected returns from traffic on 

 the Australian transcontinental line are 

 an insignificant fraction of the cost of 

 building and upkeep, but its political and 

 strategic values are immense. It short- 

 ens the distance from London to Mel- 

 bourne or Sydney by nearly a week, and 



likewise decreases the time between West 

 Australia and New Zealand or America. 

 It brings the western half of the con- 

 tinent in touch with the eastern by con- 

 verting a strenuous two months' over- 

 land journey from Adelaide to Perth into 

 a comfortable ride of two days. 



THE ROMANCE OF GOLD AND SILVER 



When word reached Sydney early in 

 1849 that an Australian engineer had 

 found gold in the streams of the Sierra 

 Nevada, the boats to San Francisco were 

 crowded with Australians. One of these 

 amateur miners, Edward Hargraves, was 

 so impressed with the similarity between 

 the gold-bearing rock of California and 

 the rocks along the Macquarie, that he 

 hurried back to Australia and had the 

 satisfaction of startling the peaceful col- 

 onies by the discovery of gold in New 

 South Wales in February, 1851. One 

 year later 105,000 men were encamped at 

 three gold centers: Ballarat, 40,000; 

 Bendigo, 40,000; Castlemaine, 25,000. 



In 1850 Victoria had a population of 

 76,000, chiefly stockmen and farmers ; by 

 1855 there were 364,000 inhabitants, 

 three-fourths of them men. During this 

 period Melbourne rose from a town to 

 hold for a time the position of the fore- 

 most citv in the Southern Hemisphere; 



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