Rambles in Australia

CHAPTER PAGE I. THE LAND OF THE UNLATCHED DOOR 3 II. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 9 III. PERTH: A PARADISE FOR THE WORKING MAN 20 IV. IN THE BUSH 34 V. AGRICULTURE AND GOLD 51

KARRI COUNTRY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA _Frontispiece_ _Facing page_ PERTH FROM “THE NARROWS” 20 FELLING KARRI 43 OXEN HARNESSED TO A LOG AT BIG BROOK 49 ORCHARD AND HOMESTEAD, BRIDGET...

Opposite to us was Australia. During the long days of the voyage across the bleak South Indian Ocean it had seemed no more than a vague area on a map, small, as all countries an...

It behoves visitors to Australia to realise that they will have a good many things to do for themselves that they have never done before, and that the conditions of travelling,...

The city of Perth is in a transition stage. Scattered over the low hills of the Swan River, its situation is magnificent, and its climate superb, but it is as yet only partly bu...

One great source of wealth to Western Australia are the karri forests, covering thousands of square miles. Karri is a kind of eucalyptus closely allied to the better-known jarra...

It was the discovery of gold in West Australia that gave the first real impetus to the development of the state. In the earlier half of the nineteenth century the country was ur...

In a poem written long ago by Bret Harte the opening of the Pacific Railroad which joined East to West was commemorated in an imagined dialogue between the engines that met midw...

We had been warned to expect cold and rough weather, if anywhere, in the great Australian Bight, but like everything we had ever been told about Australian weather, the prophecy...

Adelaide, when we reached it, was like the rest of the Australian continent, celebrating the declaration of war by a tremendous outburst of patriotism; the whole place fluttered...

On the day we reached Adelaide the train that took us from Port Adelaide to the city slipped by an encampment of tents, those of the naval division; and on the day we left Melbo...

The country surrounding Melbourne was far more populous than anything we had yet seen. The land was very flat, and the plain was extremely bare, even denuded; there was hardly a...

Nobody has seen Australia who has not seen a goldfield, and though with a certain reluctance, for the way was long and the trains unprovided with restaurant cars, we decided to...

The Victorian bush is very beautiful owing to the immense tree-ferns that grow among the gums, and during our stay in Melbourne we were motored out to Black Spur, a favourite ob...

When we were sailing from Batavia in Java to Colombo there was a New Yorker on board, who was buying rubber in anticipation of the needs of belligerents, and who knew most of th...

The approach to Sydney by rail lies through wooded hills with beautiful views of dark ranges in the distance. It had been raining overnight, and everything was glistening in the...

We had heard much of the famous Blue Mountains during our progress from West Australia to New South Wales and were anxious to visit them. In the early days they formed an impene...

Oh Land of Ours, hear the song we make for you-- Land of yellow wattle bloom, land of smiling Spring-- Hearken to the after words, land of pleasant memories. Shea-oaks of the sh...

Soon after crossing the Queensland border we entered a stony country in which intrepid settlers had built themselves houses among granite boulders. In spite of this the soil of...

This was one of the most delightful of all the many crowded days we spent in Australia, for it revealed to us the wonder and the beauty of the Queensland Bush.

The Brisbane River, flowing gently between its green banks, is a favourite resort of picnic parties, one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Australia, where dry wood...

We had already made acquaintance with the “Montoro” when she was unlading in Sydney Harbour, her final port of call, and we now spent on board three of the pleasantest weeks of...

The Northern Territory is one of Australia’s many problems. How can the immense tract of rich and fertile country with its tropical northern area be cultivated, and its great re...