1910

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE
ACCOUNT OF
SOUTH AUSTRALIA:
POUNDED ON THE EXPERIENCE

A THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE IN THAT
COLONY.

BY J. F. BENNETT.

LONDON : SMITH, ELDER, & CO., Corshili.
EDINBURGH: A. & C. BLACK.

1843.
Price Two ShilUngs.

PRIBTED IH THE STIKLIHG 0E3EKVEK OFFICE.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.
Geographical Position — ^Establishment — His
tory, - - - Page 9
CHAP. II.
Physical Aspect and Natural Productions,
Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral, 28
CHAP. III.
Climate, . _ , . . 48
CHAP. IV.
The Native Inhabitants, - - 59
CHAP. V.
Productive Capabilities op the Colony — Pro
gress OF Agriculture, - - 74
CHAP. VI.
Sheep and Cattle Farming, - - - 94
CHAP. VII.
Commercial Matters, - - 105

IV.
CHAP. VIII.
Sketch of Adelaide and Surrounding Vil
lages — Colonial Life and Manners, - 122
CHAP. IX.
Conclusion — Information for Emigrants, - 137
APPENDIX.

PREFACE.

In presenting the following pages to the Public, the writer
has only one object in view, and that is to place the
British Public, and especially that portion of it which
takes an interest in Emigration in general, and South
Australian Emigration in particular, as well as such as
may entertain an intention of emigrating, in possession of
a plain unvarnished statement of facts, as to the character
and capabilities of a Colony which has never been fairly
represented in this country — a Colony which has been
slandered by enemies interested elsewhere on the one
hand, and perhaps as much injured by the well-meant but
injudicious statements of its friends on the other — a
Colony which has had to grapple with difficulties and
anomalies of no ordinary kind — a Colony which, I feel
convinced, must ere long rank high among the Foreign
possessions of this vast empire.
There have been various writers on South Australia,
from most of whom I have found it necessary to differ on
many points ; and while I claim no superiority over any
one of these gentlemen either in point of talent, sagacity,
or erudition, I claim, and think I am fully entitled to, one
advantage over them all — namely, that of speaking from

personal observation and experience on every point moat
ed. This, it wUl be admitted I think, is no inconsider
able advantage, inasmuch as some of those who have
already written regarding the Colony never saw it at aU,
while others formed their opinions upon a residence of a
few days, or weeks at most, and that at the period of its
infancy — their observations being confined to the then in
significant, and of course uncomfortable, town of Adel
aide, and to the few miles of plain which lie between the
capita,l and the harbour.
One gentleman some time ago stated before a Commit
tee of the House of Commons, that his opinion regarding
the Colony, which was an unfevourable one, was founded
on a journey to the summit of Mount Lofty, and he under
stood that, in that journey, he had passed through the
best districts of South Australia. Will it be believed, that
the only country he passed through, was part of an indif
ferently good plain — ^the greater part of his route being
across a range of mountains ?
To remove the unwarranted and injurious misconcep
tions caused by such statements, has been my chief object
in penning the present publication — an object which I
considered important, and called for in justice both to the
Colony and the British public. I have, therefore, given
the result of my observations and experience during the
three years I resided in South Australia, extending from
the 19th March, 1839, to the 14th March, 1842. I have
painted nothing too bright; nor have I endeavoured to
slur over or hide any dark spots.
It will also be observed that I have carefully avoided a

comparison with any of the other Colonies. I have visit
ed both New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land ; but
I have no intention or wish to decry any of these places,
or to endeavour to advance the cause of South Australia
at the expense of any other Colony. On the contrary, I
conceive the interest of one Australian settlement to be in
corporated with that of those that surround it ; and I have
no sympathy with those writers who cry up their own
favourite Colony, and abuse all and sundry those in its
neighbourhood. Australia contains within her vast bounds
the ingredients of a great nation, and ere many years
elapse, I have no doubt but the sanguine anticipation of
a zealous friend will be realised, and that she will bid fair
to " rival the United States of America."
I may simply mention, that the general description of
South AustraUa wiU, with few exceptions, apply to the
other Colonies of New South Wales, Port Phillip, and
Van Diemen's Land.

CHAP. I.
GEOGEAPHICAL POSITION— EStABLISHMENT-
HI STORY.

" Vaat was the toil to found the Roman State !"

It is, I presume, pretty generally known that South
Australia is a portion of the Island New Holland — now
more popularly known as Australia.
I am induced to believe, however, that beyond this bare
fact, a great portion of the British public is still in igno
rance of anything regarding that Colony. Even its rela
tive position towards the other Australian settlements
seems to be by many unknown. As a proof of this, it
is a common occurrence for emigrants leaving England
to be furnished with huge bundles of letters addressed to
parties in Port PhiUp, Sydney, Hobart Town, or Laun
ceston — places hundreds of miles apart ; and many docu
ments pass through the post-office addressed " Adelaide,
New South Wales," while others are to be seen mark^d
for Sydney, or Melbourne, South Australia. Nay, I have
even seen in a Scottish newspaper, a ship advertised to
sail from Scotland for Adelaide, with Uberty to call at
New Zealand! And in some of the London journals an
nouncements have appeared, within these few weeks, of
ships having sailed with convicts fra: South Australia — a
place that the laws forbid any such persons to be sent to.

10
To remove such erroneous ideas, a few remarks only will
be necessary.
The Island of New Holland is one of immense extent,
stretching from the 1 15th to the 152d degree of East
Longitude ; and from the 1 lth to the 39th degree of South
Latitude. The East coast of this Island is called New South
Wales ; the capital of which, Sydney, is a large and flou
rishing town, built ont he shores of Port Jackson. In the
immediate neighbourhood is Botany Bay, which has long
been known as the destination of those who have made
themselves amenable to the laws of this country. About
500 miles to the southward and westward of Sydney is
Port Philip, a newly settled and flourishing district, tribu
tary to New South Wales, and having Melbourne for its
capital. Adjoining Port Philip on the west is South
Australia, the boundaries of the latter place being — on the
east the 141st degree of East Longitude, on the west the
132d degree of East Longitude, on the north the' 26th
degree of South Latitude, and on the south the sea coast.
The superficies ofthe Colony contains ahout 200,000,000
square acres ; and it is thus nearly twice as large as Great
Britain and Ireland together.
The present Settlement, however, covers only a small
portion of those large bounds, and is situate towards the
centre of the province, the capital being in Long. I38|^
East, and Lat. 36 degrees South. It is distant from Port
Philip betiveen 500 and 600 miles, and is twice that dis
tance from Sydney.
Van Diemen's Land is an Island lying to the South of
New Holland, and separated from the Port PhiUp district
by Bass's Straits, a passage of moderate breadth, studded
with several islands. Launceston is on the north,

11
Hobart Town on the south, of Van Diemen's Land ; the
former is about 600 miles, the latter 800 miles, distant
from Adelaide, in South Australia.
On the west coast of New Holland is the smaU Settle
ment of Swan River, or Western AustraUa. Its distance
from South AustraUa is nearly 1200 miles. New Zealand
is about 1000 miles to the eastward of AustraUa. By
keeping these facts in his memory, the reader will avoid
the very common error of confusing one AustraUan Co
lony with another.
The rapidly improving state of New South Wales and
Van Diemen's Land about ten years ago, and the
important position which they began to assume among the
Colonies of Britain, proved the means of drawing the atten
tion of many gentlemen of capital aud influence in that
direction. The accounts of the climate and soU of theee
places, were very favourable ; but their social condition,
produced by their being penal settlements, was held by
many as an insuperable objection to them as favourable
fields for free emigration. A proposition was therefore
made to form a new and free Colony in some other part
of AustraUa which should be beyond the pale of convict
contamination ; and the southern coast, from its geo
graphical position, added to such vague reports as had
been received regarding it, was looked on as a favourable
locahty wherein to found the proposed Colony.
An Association was therefore formed for carrying out
the project, for which purpose the primary object was to
obtain the sanction and protection of the British Govern
ment. This, however, was found to be no easy matter, as
the projectors of the scheme were looked on as holding
visionary ideas ; uid it was not until the most strenuous
and persevering efforts had been made, that Government

12
cbuld be induced to hsten to their representations. At last, .
however, the Association succeeded in carrying their point,
and a Bill was passed through ParUament authorising the
estabUshment of a British Colony within the limits already
mentioned — to be caUed South AustraUa.
A new raode of Colonization was about this time brought
forward by Mr. Wakefield, the theory of which was highly
approved of by those who had imbibed the idea of forming
the new settlement in AustraUa, and as this plan was
adopted as the groundwork of the new Colony, a sketch
of its principal features may be given here.
Prior to tbis, the mode in which all Colonial Lands
were disposed of was, to give free grants to almost any
person who chose to apply for them — especially to those
who had a little capital. The consequence of this was, that
nearly all the Settlers in these Colonies became landed
proprietors, and labourers to cultivate the soil could
scarcely be got.
To remedy this — to maintain a due proportion between
capital and labour, and likewise to afford a supply of the
latter according to the demand — the plan now proposed
embraced tbe following principles : — No land was to be
granted except to those who were prepared to pay a cer
tain price per acre for it — and tbis purchase money was
to go towards a fund intended to be appUed in giving free
passages to the Colony to properly qualified labourers and
mechanics, their wives and famiUes.
Another novelty in the proposed system was, that no
assistance was to be asked or received from the mother
country, but that the new settlement should bear all its
own charges, .and have the principal management of its
own affairs. To provide for the necessary expenses of
founding the Colony, and carrying it on until revenues

13
should arise, power was given to raise on bonds a certain
sura of money, which was to be held as a debt on the
Colony, secured on the lands, and the interest to be paid out
of the Colonial Revenue. It was also stipulated, that
no convicts should ever be sent thither, and that as soon
as a population of 50,000 souls had been coUected in the
Colony, it should be entitled to a Representative Legis
lature. Such were the principal features of the New Scherae,
and although the estabUshment of a Colony on the verge
of the earth, without external assistance, was looked on by
many as a hazardous undertaking, and the other " prin
ciples" were ridiculed by numbers, both publicly and priv
ately, yet the promoters of the plan had confidence in it ;
and accordingly, having received the sanction of the Im
perial Legislature, the scene of their future operations was
declared a British Colony. Captain Hindmarsh of the
Royal Navy was appointed to hold the office of Governor,
and Colonel Light, an able Surveyor, accompanied by as
sistants, was despatched to explore the country, and fix on
a site for the Settlement.
A Commission was likewise appointed to manage the
Sales of the Colonial Lands, and to conduct the selection
and despatch of Emigrants — as these raatters were not
to be interfered with by Governraent. Mr. Jaraes Hurtle
Fisher, an EngUsh Barrister, received the appointment of
Colonial Agent for these Commissioners, with the title of
Resident Coraraissioner. This Coraraission, in pursuance
of the power to borrow already mentioned, raised the sun.
of £84,000 on bond, at the rate of 10 per cent, per
annum. AU preUminaries being thus arranged, and a consider-
b5

14
able sum of money lodged in the Commissioners' hands,*
for which the parties received documents entitling them
to a selection of land, at the price of twelve shillings per
acre, on their arrival out, the Emigrants began to take
their departure for the distant country.
The Surveyor- General was, at his departure from Eng
land, vested with power to fix on a site for a township,
which would be expected to adjoin some navigable water,
and to have in its vicinity good land for tillage and pas
ture. So little, however, was known of the country at
that time, that whether the capital should be fixed on
Kangaroo Island, at Port Lincoln, or on the east shore
of St. Vincent's Gulf, was an uncertainty when he left.
It becarae necessary, then, that Colonel Light should visit
all these places, and decide which possessed most advan
tages. In this raanner a considerable space of time was
consumed ; but at last, a rising ground, pleasantly situated
in the midst of an extensive plain, about five raUes inland
from St. Vincent's Gulf, and about six railes from a very
safe and commodious harbour which had been discovered,
was determined on as the site of the future Capital. Here,
accordingly, the Surveyors pitched their tents, and com
menced laying out the plan of the town.
In the raeantirae, several ships had arrived frora Eng
land, and the Emigrants, finding no land surveyed, were at
a loss what to do. Some settled theraselves on Kangaroo
Island, where a corapany, previously formed in England,
* Although the Act of Parliament was passed in August, 1834, it
was not to eome into operation unless land to the Talue of £35,000
was sold within a limited period ; and in order to effect this, the
price was reduced from one pound to twelve shillings per acre  one
hundred and thirty-four acres of Country, and one acre of Towa
Land, being given for £81. Hence the "Preliminary Sections,"
as those originally purchased were termed, consisted of 134 acres,
instead of 80 acres as at present. '

15
under the title of the South AustraUan Company, had
founded an estabUshment ; but the greater part pitched
their tents on a plain, close to the beach, at Holdfast Bay —
an anchorage a few miles south of the newly discovered
harbour — there to await the progress of the survey.
When the site of the Capital was at last fixed, most of
the Emigrants reraoved thither. StiU, as the lands were
not yet laid out, and consequently no one knew what spot
was to fall to his lot, the Eraigrants were under the ne
cessity of forming another temporary encampment on the
banks of the River which runs through the Town, and
which had been named the Torrens, in honour of the
gentleman who was at the head of the Commissioners in
London. Here, then, temporary dwelUngs were erected of such
materials as were raost easily procured — these consisting
chiefly of turf, mud, and reeds. Many of the dwellings
then erected were still standing when I reached the Col
ony, early in 1839, and were inhabited by parties who
hadnot been enabled to get a house in the "City" — or
who chose to submit to inconvenience for a tirae in order
to save rent.
These huts were scattered about without any attempt
at regularity or uniforraity. Every man had built his
house on the spot which whim or chance pointed out, or
where material was easiest got ; and the consequence was,
that a coUection of as priraitive-looking wigwams as can
be well iraagined soon lined the banks of the Torrens —
some of them facing the east — some the west — in fact,
every point of the compass inight have claimed one or more
facing towards it. They stood just as though a mad bull
had been playing his antics among them, and had tossed
them hither and thither. Nor was the appearance of the

16
dwiellings less amusing or extraordinary than their general
positions. The walls of some were not more than four
or five feet high— some were humpbacked — others au
contraire — some were built of mud, interlaced with
branches, with a few reeds, or a piece of old canvas, for
a roof — others were composed of turf — and some entirely
of reeds. Most of them possessed an aperture to afford
egress and ingress ; but few, if any, could boast of a win
dow of any kind. A fire place was not deemed essential,
though several had an opening at one end, surmounted
by an erapty pork cask, deprived of the ends, to serve as a
chiraney. A great portion of the Emigrants, however,
contented theraselves without a fire, except outside, where
it might be seen blazing, with a pot hung over it, a la
gypsy. In those days houses could be bought and sold
for a couple of pounds a-piece !
Sutih was the first settlement of the Emigrants in the
new Colony, and in this miserable-looking encarapment
resided many most respectable gentlemen and accompUshed
ladies, who, now that they have got good, substantial
houses over their heads, and many comforts around them,
look back with a kind of pleasure to the romantic situations
in which they were placed in these days of colonial in
fancy ; and many a laugh is still raised by thera among
new coraers in their reminiscences of these early times.
In the latter part of December, 1836, the Governor
arrived in the Province. Ships were also arriving at in
tervals, adding to the numbers of the settlers. It was not,
however, until March, 1837, that the Survey of the Town
Lands was completed. During that month, such parties
as had made purchases of land in England made their se
lection of Town Lots, and the remainder were sold by
public sate to the highest bidder — the prices varying from

17
£2 upwards to £20 per acre. I have known raany in
stances of parties who then purchased their land at that
price, dispose of it within the ensuing three years at prices
varying from £200 to £2000 per acre. It is but right
to mention, however, that this imraense rise in the price
of Town Lands was not caused so much by an advance in
intrinsic value, as by a spirit of speculation which raged
for some time araong the Colonists, and particularly among
those newly arrived. These parties hearing of the rapid rise
in the ocfaoZ value of Town Lots, purchased, with the view
of selUng at a great profit in a short tirae, and thus a ficti
tious demand was created, and a fictitious value given to
property, which could not long continue. This mania has
now hapUy passed away, alid the ]irice of Land has fallen
to its proper level, which, though many hundred per cent.
above the original cost, does not approach the value ira
puted to it a couple of years ago.
To return, however. Each purchaser being now ena
bled to enter into possession of his Town Land, steps
were taken towards making a move into the " City,'' as
it wa.s rather bombastically called, even at this early
period, when a few pegs were all that marked it from the
surrounding forest. The first house erected in Adelaide
— the name of the new township — was a printing ofiice,
from which issued, at irregular intervals, a sraall news
paper, contaimng the official acts and orders of Govern
ment, and articles of intelUgence regarding the Colony.,
It is rather a singular circumstance, and worthy of note,
that the press should thus have been the pioneer of civiU
zation in the new country. Such, however, is the fact,
and round that paUadium of freedom, thus raised by the
Colonists as their standard, were ralUed those bold spirits
who had abandoned their native country, their friends.

18
and their comfortable homes, to win for themselves and
their posterity a home and an independence in the wilds
of that distant, and then alraost unknown, " fragment" of
the globe. And nobly did they tally aronnd the standard
thus raised; for on the spot which then was an interrain
able forest, now stands a large and populous town, con
taining churches, houses, shops, and other buildings,
which would do no discredit to any country town of Bri
tain. And all this has been accomplished in the short
space of five years. Bat of this anon.
Many of the firat houses erected in Adelaide were little
better than those huts already described, -with which were
now intermixed a few wooden ones, whicfa had been
brought from England. Even in March, 1 839, when I
reached the Colony, Adelaide had more the appearance
of a coHection of booths, such as may be seen at a couatry
fair, or on a race ground, than anything else. A few
good houses had, however, been built by this time, and a
still greater number were in course of erection. Brick
and storte were beginning to take the place of straw and
mud ; and shingles and slates had partly supplanted the
use of canvas and reeds; although the latter are, even
up to the present time, considerably used in roofing,
being by many preferred to slates or shitigles. From
this period the town rapidly assumed a new appearance.
The old hut or tent gave way to the neat cottage, or
the handsome two storey house, and a genuine specimen
of the original buildings of the " City of Adelaide," is
now a rarity— they are " few and far between."
So soon as the survey of Adelaide was completed, the
surveyors betook themselves to the country to proceed
with the rural surveys. Unpleasant feeUngs, however,
arose among the surveyors, and through mismanagement

19
somewhere, very little progress was made. A bad feel
ing also began to spring up between the Governor and
the Resident Gommissioner, each seenung afraid of the
other encroaching on his power or rights. Both were
indeed placed in rather anomalous positions. The Go
vernor, as such, was chief ruler ; but the Resident Com
missioner had the sole management of the sales of land,
the only source whence money was forthcoming, while
the Government was without money to pay even the
salaries of its officers. There were no revenues — the
land fund was sacred — ^the English Government could
not be asked for money — and thus the Colonial Treasury
existed but in name — its eoffers were full of emptiness.
To raise funds, duties were iraposed on imported
spirits, wines, and tobacco, publicans' licenses established,
and charges made on shipping. The revenue frora these
was, however, but small at first, and Government was
already in arrear with its salaries. The Emigrants, too,
began to complain of being kept so long without their
land — some said one was to blarae, sorae another, so that
a complete ferment was created in the community. Two
parties were formed — one favouring the Governor, the
other the Resident Commissioner— the coraraunity was
thus divided, each party bearing the most bitter enmity
towards the other, and those who stood at the head of
affairs, instead of endeavouring to quench, only added
fuel to the fire. The place was thus soon involved in a
complete state of anarchy and confusion. Even the Go
vernment officers were divided among theraselves, and to
such a height did party spirit run, that a pugilistic encoun
ter actually took place in the public streets of the town,
between two of the principal Government functionaries I
This lamentable state of matters at length reached the

20
ears of the Home Commission, and the English Govern
ment thereupon thought it advisable to reraove frora
office the heads of both contending parties — ^the Gover
nor and Resident Commissioner — and to take sorae mea
sures calculated to ensure a more satisfactory adrainistra
tion of power in future. With this view, Lieut.- Colonel
Gawlek received the appointment of Governor of the
Colony, and with that office was conjoined the Resident
Commissionership, in the hope that, by vesting both ap
pointraents in one person, no colUsion between the two
powers could take place, and that the duties of both offices
would be better executed. It was also found necessary to
encroach on the principle of " self support," on which the
Colony waioriginally founded, and to give the new Go
vernor power to harrow frora the Land Fund such sums
as might be necessary to carry on the Government in an
efficient manner — such monies, however, to be considered
as a debt to be repaid by the Colony, when it co'uld afford
to do so.
Colonel Gawler landed in South Australia in October,
1 838, and soon found tbat the reports which had reached
England of the disjointed state of society among the Set
tlers had not been exaggerated. However, by imme
diately adopting bold and decisive raeasures, and by a
decision and firmness of character weU calculated for such
an emergency, he soon succeeded in calming the tumult,
and introducing a better state of things. By this tirae,
too, a considerable quantity of land had been surveyed
and allotted to the Settlers,* who then began to find an
outlet to their industry, more advantageous than squab-
• The first selection of country lands took place in May 1838
The selections were made by ballot— the holders of preliminani
land orders having the first choice, and afterwards such parties ^
had purchased subsequently.

21
bling one with another. The best results followed — in a
short time the discord which at first shook the little set
tlement to its centre passed away, and bv degrees was
forgotten, and a general good feeling was re-estabUshed
among, the Colonists, which, up the present time, has
not been broken.
Impressed with an anxious desire for the advancement
of the Colony, but with a liberality of expenditure which
many considered unwarranted in its circumstances, the
new Governor set a great many iraproveraents on foot,
aU of which were conducted in a highly creditable manner.
Among other things, he built an extensive and well-finished
Government House, commodious offices for the various
Government departments, a Customhouse, a Jail, an Hos
pital, and other buildings and works of various kinds. The
Survey department was remodelled and extended, so as to
become rauch more effective — a large police force, both
foot and mounted, was erabodied — roads were formed in
various directions — exploring parties sent out — and every
thing carried on in a systematic and imposing style.
This kept a large amount of capital constantly floating in
the Colony, gave employment to numbers of Emigrants,
. and was unquestionably productive of much temporary
good ; but whether permanent benefits have resulted there
from is a question regarding which there are various opin
ions, on which it is not for me to decide. My own im
pression however, is, and always has been, tbat Gover
nor Gawler's expenditure produced bad results as well as
good. It was a means of preventing people from culti
vating the soil, which ought to be the first consideration
in all new colonies — and the raonetary crisis which at
present exists in the Colony, I believe to have been, at
kast, considerably aggravated by it. No one, however, I

22
think, will deny that Colonel Gawler was actuated by a
sense of acting for the good of the Colony in all his trans
actions; and his administration has advanced it many
years as regards what he himself termed its " outfit" —
namely, public buildings, wharves, roads, and such like.
In carrying on these works, large suras were expended,
which were raised by bills on the Coramissioners, under
the authority to borrow given by Parliament. To such
an amount did the Governor's drafts on the Commis
sioners reach at last, that the whole of the funds in their
hands was exhausted, and bills still pouring in upon
them, they had no alternative but to dishonour them,
until they should lay the raatter before Government.
On intelligence of this reaching the Colony, consider
able uneasiness was felt by the Settlers. The mer
chants had purchased the Govemment paper to a large
amount as remittances to their correspondents in Eng
land, and the check thus gvren to mercantile transactions,
acted injuriously not only on the merchants and dealers, but
on the Colonists generally. Many tradesmen and others,
too, who ha<} been working for, or supplying articles to,
Governraent, and who depended on punctual payments to
enable them to meet their engagements, now found them
selves involved — ^there being no funds in the Treasury to
pay thera. Thus the distress soon reached all classes. The
tradesmen not receiving payment for their work, were of
course unable to pay the hands they eraployed ; and the
merchant or dealer, who depended on Government for a
considerable portion of his custom, was unable to meet his
engagements. This of course involved others, so that the
distress became general. Abont this time, too, the arri
vals of monied Eraigrants frora England, which before had
been numerous, was almost wholly suspended. This

23
helped to add to the already unfavourable state of things;
— as the constant influx of capitaUsts hitherto had materi
ally assisted in keeping up the floating capital, which stood
in need of constant suppUes, to make up for the large
suras that were being weekly paid to the neighbouring
Colonies for sheep, cattle, and horses, to stock the Colony,
and likewise for provisions, which had not yet been raised
in anything like a sufficient quantity to support the popu
lation. These corabined circurastances produced, as I
have said, a great stagnation in trade, which extended
to all the other AustraUan Settlements, and from which
they have not yet recovered.
One good result of this crisis to South Australia has
been, that it has forced the Settlers into the country
to prosecute cultivation of the soil, and breeding sheep
and cattle, on which all Colonial prosperity must be
founded. In fact, the South Australians began at first
at the wrong end — they commenced by building a town,
ere there was any country population or country produce
to support it. This was, however, more the result of
circumstances which I have already mentioned, than of
choice. The Emigrants were prevented from commenc
ing cultivation on their first arrival, because there
was no land surveyed; and once settled in Adelaide,
and earning a UveUhood there, it was a difficult matter
to get them to move a second time. They were now
forced to it as the only alternative, and though it would
have been to the advantage of raany individually, and to
the Colony generally, had they done so as soon as prac
ticable, yet it is never too late to do well, and they are
now endeavouring to raake up for lost time, by persever
ing and energetic industry, as I shall show by and bye.
I shall also have occasion to aUude to the " crisis" men
tioned above, in a future chapter.

24
The Commissioners' funds being, as already mentioned,
exhausted, they represented the state of affairs to Govern
ment, to ascertain what was to be done. Colonel Gawler
was thereupon immediately recalled, and Parhament, by
the advice of the late Administration, found it necessary
to advance no less a sum than £155,000 towards the
Uquidation of the bills drawn by him on the Comrais
sioners, over and above all the funds which had been in
their hands.
Captain George Grey, a young military officer, who
had just returned from an exploring expedition on the
west coast of Australia, was then intrusted with the Go
vernment ; and his arrival in the Colony took place in May,
1841 — Colonel Gawler having held the reins of Govem
ment for two years and a half. Captain Grey's instmc
tions from the Home authorities were of a very distinct
nature, and by them he was restricted to an expenditure
of only the Colonial Revenues, and a small sum quarterly,
to be drawn from the English Treasury, until some ar
rangeraent was made for carrying on the Government of
the Colony on a different footing from that hitherto pur
sued, as it had now becorae evident that the principle of
" self-support," hitherto held up, was impracticable — in its
strict sense at least.
An Act was accordingly passed during the last Session
of ParUaraent, throwing this " principle " on which South
Australia was originally founded, overboard, and esta
blishing the Colony on soraething Uke the same footing
as other British settlements.
This act repealed all former acts regarding the Colony,
but provided that all laws passed, and all things done
under authority of these acts, should be confirmed, and
continue vaUd. It retains the original provision that n&

25
convicts shall be sent to any place within the limits of
South Australia. It provides for the constitution within
the Colony of a Legislative Council, consisting of the
Govemor and seven other persons, to be appointed by the
Sovereign, who shall have power to make laws for the
peace, order, and good government of the Colony — such
laws being subject to approval or disapproval by the
Home Government. It also enacts, that Her Majesty
may issue instructions to convene a General Assembly,
to be elected by freeholders and others in the Colony,
which assembly shall have a voice in the framing of Colo
nial laws, and be admitted to the deUberations of the Le
gislative Council, and have a voice therein. This impor
tant proviso insures to the Colonists a representation of
their interests in the Legislature — a boon of no trifling
value. By this act, too, the loan of £155,000 advanced by
Governraent to take up the dishonoured Bills on the
Coramissioners is declared to be a grant, and thus a
weighty burden is removed frora the shoulders of the
Colonists. The rate of Interest on the Bonds issued by
the Coramissioners to defray the original expenses of the
Colony — amounting to £84,000 — has also been reduced
frora ten, to three and a. half per cent. This sura,
which is a public debt owing by the Colony, was previ
ously a burden to the amount of £8400 per annura,
chargeable on the Colonial Revenues, but the Interest is
now reduced to the annual payment of £2940. A further
grant, in addition to the £155,000, was also voted by Par
liament to the amount of £59,000, to provide for certain
drafts by the late and present* Governor, and to defray the
current expenses of the Colonial Government during the
year 1842, The reraainder of the debt incurred by Col.
c5

26
Gawler, araounting to about £30,000, chiefly due to per
sons in the Colony, is to be provided for by the issue of
Colonial debentures, chargeable on the Revenues of the
Colony, and bearing interest at the rate of five per cent.
This imposes a farther burthen on the Colonial Revenues
to the amount of £1500 annually ; but the whole amount
of the obligations chargeable-on the Revenue is reduced to
the annual payment of £4500. Thus the whole of the
financial erabarrassments in which the Colony was involved
have been cleared up, and although it would have been de
sirable that the £30,000 had also been granted by Go
vernment, yet the issue of debentures at five per cent.,
under authority of the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury, is the next best mea.sure, and wiU be
productive of rauch good. The whole burthen on Sonth
AustraUa, after being fully estabUshed and corapletely
" fitted out," araounts to the annual payment of £4500 ;
and the act provides that the largest portion of this sum,
namely, the £^2940 wiU be chargeable on the ConsoUdated
Fund of this country, provided the Colonial Revenues are
insufficient, after defraying the expenses of the Colonial
Governraent, for the payment thereof.
The receipt of the intelUgence of the passing of this
act would produce much good in the Colony. Those who
were lying out of their raoney would either receive it, or
debentures, which they could easily turn into raoney.
Confidence would be restored, and I feel no hesitation in
giving it as my opinion, that, at the moment I write this,
the financial distress into which the Colony was plunged
will have been much alleviated, if it has not wholly dis
appeared. *
Another act passed during the last Session of Parlia
ment, altered the mode of disposing of the waste lands.

27
This act refers to the whole of the AustraUan Colonies
and New Zealand, as well as to South Australia ; but it
confers a very considerable benefit on the last-men
tioned Colony, inasmuch as heretofore land was sold in
South AustraUa at £1 per acre, while in New South
Wales and the other Colonies, it was sold, in many instan
ces, as low as 5s. per acre. This act, by placing them all
on an equal footing, has consequently obtained for South
Australia a decided advantage, as many parties would
hitherto prefer purchasing land in New South Wales
at 5s. per acre, rather than pay £1 in South Australia.
Land is now sold by auction — the upset price being
one pound per acre. The sales are held quarterly, and
in the intermediate time, any land which may have been
offered for sale, and remained unsold, can be purchased on
payment of the upset price. Parties raay lodge raoney, as
heretofore, in this country, for the purchase of land, with
the Colonial Commissioners. One half of the proceeds
of all sales of land are applied for the purpose Of
giving free passages to the Colony to agricultural
labourers and mechanics, instead of the whole amount,
as formerly.
Such is now the constitution of South AustraUa, and as
the debt onthe Revenues is but trifling, and only a moderate
civil, and no military, establishment is required, there need
be no apprehension that heavy taxation in the Colony will
be necessary. At present there are no taxes whatever, ex
cept a rate on the Freeholders in Adelaide, imposed by the
Municipal Corporation. The Revenues are derived from
duties on spirits, wine, and tobacco, pilot and harbour
dues, publicans' and auctioneers' Ucenses, fines, &c. in
Courts of Law, and one-half of the purchase money of
Colonial Lands, and a charge of one halfpenny per head

28
annually on sheep, which was volunteered by the Settlers,
on condition that Government would adopt some raeasures
to prevent the introduction or spread of the scab among
their flocks.
Such is a rapid sketch of the founding and history of
South AustraUa ;. but as this pubUcation is intended to be
more descriptive than historical, this Chapter is raerely
introduced to give the reader a general idea of the History
of the Province, and of the principles on which it is esta
blished. Succeeding Chapters will treat more particularly
of its advanceraent in the various branches of Colonial
pursuits.

CHAP H.
PHYSICAL ASPECT AND NATURAL PRODUCTIONS-
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, AND MINERAL.

* ' A world differing from ours in its appearance, in its nations,
in its climate, in its sky." — " A land of wheat, and barley, and vines,
and fig trees, and pomegranates ; a land of olive oil and honey ; a
land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig
brass."

Only a comparatively small portion of South Australia
has as yet been thoroughly explored, and a great part of
the interior is still totally unknown — shrouded behind a
veil which it will, in all probabiUty, take years to reraove.
About one-third of the Colony has been partly ex
plored ; but the only portion of it which has been thoroughly
exarained is the district extending along the eastern shore
of St. Vincent's Gulf, already mentioned as the locality in

29
which the present Settlement is situated. This track of
country, extending from Cape Jervis on the South, in
about lat. 36°, 20' south, to the bend of the River Mur
ray in the N.E., in lat. 34°, and the head of Spencer's
Gulf in the N. W., in 32» 30', and which forms a kind of
Peninsula, bounded on the west by the Sea, and on the
east by Lake Alexandrina and the Murray, has been all,
or nearly all, minutely examined, and a great portion of
the land indeed has been surveyed, and is either purchased
by Settlers, or open for sale to such as may be incUned to
purchase. The Country lying to the Eastward of this Peninsula —
between it and New Soutk Wales— has been traversed by
numerous parties conveying cattle and sheep across from
the Sydney and Port PhiUp districts^; but as these over
land parties in raost cases followed the course of the Mur
ray River, or sorae other regular track, their excursions
have added but little to the geographical knowledge of the
Eastern part of the Province. Of the Country to the
Northward of the head of Spencer's Gulf very Uttle is
known. An enterprising traveller, Mr. Eyre,' was in
1840-41 entrusted with the management of an expedition
fitted out by the Colonists of South AustraUa to explore
in that direction, but his progress northwards was arrested
by an iraraense Lake, discovered a little to the north of
the head of the Gulf, stretching from east to west, which
he was unable to outflank, and thus the expedition failed
to effect the purpose for which it was' sent out.
Most of the country to the westward of the Gulfs is also
unexplored. Mr. Eyre, after abandoning his intention of
penetrating into the northern interior, stmck across the
country to the westward, and forced his way, after under
going many hardships, as far as King George's Sound, in

30
Western Australia ; but, in doing so, his researches were
confined to the Sea Coast, which he found lined with a
track of barren country all along. Though this is un
favourable to the opinion that good land exists inland, yet
it is not a sufficient reason to assert that available land
raay not be found. At Port Lineoln, a veiy coramodious
harbour on the west of Spencer's Gulf, a smaU Settle
ment has been formed, and a considerable district of the
surrounding country explored.
In speaking, then, of the physical appearance of South
Australia, ray reraarks shall be chiefly directed to that part
of the Province which is Colonized — namely, the Penin
sula on the east of St. Vincent's Gulf — a great part of
which I have rayself travelled over. My remarks on the
other portions shall bb more contracted, and founded either
on official, or other information, received from parties on
whose veracity I can depend.
At the southern extremity of the Peninsula mentioned,
which is formed by the Gulfs on the west, and the Mur
ray and Lake Alexandrina on the east, Ues the District of
Encounter Bay, consisting of several beautiful valleys, con
taining a fine rich soil, covered with luxuriant verdure,
backed by ranges of hills of moderate elevation, mostly
covered with tiraber, and affording good grazing for cattle
and sheep. Stretching northward, ranges of barren hills and
desolate-looking raoors intersect the country; but along the
sea coast on the west, and the shores of the Lake on the east,
these are relieved by nuraerous valleys similar to those at
Encounter Bay, consisting of fine agricultural land, covered
with grass, and watered by nuraerous streams, springs, and
lagunes. Thus, along the shores of the Gulf, in succes
sion, Ue Rapid Bay, Yankalilla, Miponga Flats, Aldinga
Plains, M'Laren Vale, Onkaparinga, Morphett Vale, and

31
Hurtle Vale ; and on the east are Currency Creek, the
River Finniss, the Angas or Strathalbyn, and the River
Bremer. All these valhes consist of a fine rich soil, and
are surrounded by ranges of grassy hiUs. The whole of
this country is indeed very diversified — some parts being
hilly ; others undulating ; and at Aldinga and other
places considerable spaces of level land are met with.
The scenery of the vaUies and surrounding hiUs is enticing
and picturesque, but almost destitute of anything bold or
striking, and presenting httle variety. Some parts are
heavily timbered, others assume very much the appearance
of a nobleman's park, the soil being covered with a beauti
ful crop of verdant herbage, and thinly studded with large
spreading trees. Considerable spaces also occur quite
clear of timber of any description — ready, in fact, for the
plough. Immediately to the northward of Hurtle Vale, the
mountain ranges which hitherto lined the coast take a
direction towards the interior, and then stretch away to
the northward and eastward, nearly parallel to the sea,
and form the boundary of an extensive plain, which is
continued to the northward for raany miles. Near the
southem extremity of this plain, Adelaide, the capital, is
situated. This plain also presents a variety of appear
ance — in some places it is heavily timbered, in others it
assumes the appearance of an open forest, and a consider
able proportion of it, especially towards the sea coast, is
quite open and free from timber. There jare many thou
sands of acres without a tree, or even a shrub. These
plains are covered with a fair coating of grass, especially
during the winter season ; — in suraraer the heat is fel'
more than in the higher parts, and the grass is generally
much scorched. In most seasons, however, pleasant

32
showers fall occasionally, which refresh it. The s6il of the
plains is various, but mostly consists of a red, something
approaching a sandy, loam ; some parts consist of a deep
black soil, with other varieties. There are neither stones,
rocks, nor any other obstructions, to impede the progress
<5f the plough.
Beyond the range of mountains to the east of Adelaide,
named the Mount Lofty Range, lies a district of fine un
dulating country, well watered, and generally covered with
the raost luxuriant verdure. This district takes its name
from a hill situate in it, of moderate elevation, called
Mount Barker, and has been pronounced by many travel
lers to be one of the finest tracks of country in Austraha.
The hills are of slight elevation, are intersected by fine
vallies ; and being partly wooded, partly clear, the country
has been justly pronounced by many who have visited it,
as well as the vallies already mentioned, to present more
the appearance of an immense park than anything that one
would naturally expect to find in the wilds of an unculti
vated land. The Mount Barker district-being more elevat
ed than the plains around Adelaide, there exists a marked
difference in the -climate ; the heat never being so intense
in suraraer, and slight frosts during the night being of
frequent occurrence during winter. With slight varia
tions, this description of country extends a great dis
tance to the northward, portions of scrub and other
inferior land intervening occasionally. To the eastward
of Mount Barker, and on approaching Lake Alexandrina,
the country faUs towards the Lake, and spreads into ex
tensive plains, in appearance and character sirailar to those
at Adelaide.
It has been already stated, that the plain in which Ade
laide is situate stretches to the north of the Town for

33
many miles. The country then begins again to assume
the character of hill and vale, which is retained through
the greatest part of the northern portion of the Colony.
In this quarter are found raany of its most fertile districts.
These stretch along from the Mount Barker districts,
and include the sources of the Rivers Onkaparinga and
of the Torrens — ^the beautiful plain named Lyndoch Val
ley — the very extensive and well watered lands in the
neighbourhood of the heights of Barossa — the sources of
the River Gawler, and the rich vallies on the banks, and
in the neighbourhood of the Hutt, Light, and Wakefield
rivers. The country around Lyndoch Valley and the
Barossa Ranges, about 60 railes north-east from the
Capital, is of a very superior description ; consisting of
fine alluvial vaUies and flats, covered with a rich coating
of grass, and surrounded by picturesque hills, which like
wise yield good grazing for stock. Some of the vales, or
raeadows, are reaUy beautiful, and the scenery in this
quarter is raore diversified than in most other places — the
surrounding hills assuming many shapes and attitudes
which strike the eye, while the rich verdure and ever
green trees with which the slopes are covered, give a
pleasant and cheering aspect to the scene. To the west
and the north-west, the country consists of open grassv
table-land; to the east it falls into plains towards the
Murray. It was computed by Col. Gawler, the late Governor,
that the whole Peninsula between Gulf St. Vincent and
the Murray consisted about one-third of good land avail
able for agricultural purposes ; one-third ranges of stringy
bark forest, partly available as pasturage; and the remain
ing third of useless scrub and rocks, or desolate moors.
This, of course, was but a very rough guess, but it is pro-
D

34
bably not far from the truth. Upwards of 600,000 acres
had been surveyed up to the end of the year 1841, nearly
one half of which is purchased, and the remaining portion
is open for sale. It raust be evident, therefore, that this
district alone is capable of supporting an immense popula
tion. At present, however, the whole population amounts
to only about 17,000 people.
With regard to those districts of the Colony which are
yet im,perfectly known, it wiU be necessary to speak but
shortly. Some distance beyond Lake Alexandrina on the
east, lies another Lake lately discovered, and named Albert,
in the immediate neighbourhood of which a considerable
toack of good land exists. An intelligent surveyor of my
acquaintance supposes that there is about 100,000 acres of
" first-rate" land on the eastern shore of Lake Alexandrina,
and in the neighbourhood of Lake Albert. Except this,
however, a great proportion of the country lying beyond
the Lakes is barren, sandy, and scrubby. I have seen
persons who said they passed through a considerable quan
tity of good country in travelUng from Port PhiUp, but
most accounts agree that the greater part is almost value
less.* The water in the upper part of Lake Alexandrina is
fresh — the water of Lake Albert, though slightly brackisb,
is supposed to be fit for using at any time.
I have already reraarked, that all to the north-east,
north, and north-west, is as yet unexplored.
The Peninsula between St. Vincent's and Spencer's
Gulf is represented as containing a portion of good land
* Accounts were published in the Colonial Journals of the 2d
August last, announcmg the discovery in the eastern bounds of the
Province of a fine track of land, 90' miles in length  the whole pre
senting the appearance of an immense nobleman's park, and abund
antly watered. It is just inside the limits of South Australia, and
commands a good harbour.

35
for agriculture or pasture, but scantily suppUed with water,
and intermixed with a good deal of scrub.
The west coast of Spencer's Gulf was visited by Col.
Gawler while he held the office sf Governor, and he thus
describes it : —
" The surface is naturally divided into three great por
tions — ^the raountainous track, the low undulating country,
and the hill country.
" The general summit of the mountainous table-land is
about 1300 feet above the level of the sea. The width
from S.W. to N.E., appears to be from 20 to 25 railes.
It is traversed by many short and narrow mountain ridges,
from 300 to 700 feet in elevation above it. The slopes
of these are generally grassy, and sprinkled with small
casuarina (she oak) ; the water courses between them are
frequently also grassy, and lined with pine and casuarina.
" The surface of the low country consists generally of
very gentle elevations, with a few higher abrupt cones
and rocks scattered about. The hill country consists of
elevations, of from 600 to 1000 feet, which are extensively
covered with good grass. The hill ridges contain a raore
than ordinary proportion of vallies, of considerable ex
tent, all consisting of alluvial soil of excellent quaUty.
In the hill ranges there is a considerable quantity of per
manent surface water, and great facilities for construct
ing artificial tanks. The grassy hills and vaUies are
sprinkled with fine casuarina (she oak), but few valuable
eucalypti (gura trees) occur — nevertheless, the scenery
is very beautiful."
Such is an outline of the general features of such parts
of South AustraUa as have been explored.
With regard to rivers. There are but few streams
of water in Australia that deserve that narae. With the

36
exception of the Murray, there is no river at present
known within the limits of South AustraUa which can be
called navigable. In coraraon with the rest of AustraUa,
its rivers consist principally of rivulets, or chains of pools,
which, when swollen with the winter rains, present the
appearance of very respectable strearas, but in summer
dwindle down to insignificant streamlets, and many of
them in dry seasons cease to run altogether. As this
statement may, however, be taken as confirmation of a
very erroneous impression, too prevalent in Britain, that
Australia altogether, and South AustraUa in particular,
is almost destitute of fresh water, I may here, once for
all, allude to that matter, and state distinctly that such
impression is unfounded and incorrect. No one will
presurae to say that South AustraUa is as abundantly
suppUed with surface water as Britain — its geographical
position renders such a supposition absurd — ^but it is
fairly watered for a country situate in the meridians of
latitude 30° to 36°. Although, as has been mentioned,
many streams alraost cease to mn during the heat of
suramer, there is always an abundant supply of water in
the pools that reraain — raany, if not all, of which are
supplied by numerous springs and undercurrents, as is
shown by the fact, that the water in the pools never
becomes stagnant or unfit for use. And in places where
surface water is not found, weUs raay be sunk, when
good water will almost invariably be got at depths
varying frora eighteen to sixty or eighty feet. An in
stance of this : There is no fresh water on the surface
at Por.t Adelaide, which was a weighty reason with the
founders of the Colony why the town was built away from
the harbour; but a well has now been dug within 100
yards of high water mark, where, at a depth of only a

37
few feet, a supply of excellent water has been obtained,
sufficient to supply the whole of the inhabitants, and the
shipping which frequent the port.* This, in order to
remove false impressions.
To return. The River Murray is one of very great
consequence. Its source is in the west of New South
Wales, whence it pursues a course of nearly 1 200 miles,
receiving numerous tributaries, until it falls into Lake
Alexandrina, about forty miles to the eastward of Ade
laide. The lake discharges its waters into the sea a Uttle
below Encounter Bay. Much speculation at one time
existed regarding the navigation of -the Murray, and
whether a practicable outlet to the sea existed. Tbat
the river is navigable for a great distance into the inte
rior is now settled beyond dispute; but it does not appear
that its embrochure is likely to become a safe or useful
channel, at least for sailing vessels. There are times
when vessels of a small draught of water (six or seven
feet) may take the entrance with safety, but a fresh breeze
of wind from the southward rises such a swell on the bar
at the mouth of the channel, as to render it hazardous, if
not impossible, to effect an entrance. Steamers of a small
draught of water might be employed with success during
raoderate weather, though, frora what has been seen of it
hitherto, it is to be feared that even they could not be
depended on, except during fine weather. Once inside,
however, the navigation of the lake and river is safe and
easy; and should location on the banks of the Murray
increase to such an extent as to render its navigation an
object of iraportance, it will be an easy matter to have
* Many parts of the country, where it is barren, are but poorly
supplied, but the available tracks are invariably found to contain "a
reasonable supply of water, either on the surface or by digging,
d5

38
boats to convey the produce down the river to a depot,
which might be formed at the bottom of the lake, whence
it could be transported overland to Encounter Bay, dis
tant only a few miles, where their is good anchorage and
faciUties for re-shipment for England or elsewhere.
The banks of the Murray are composed of a fine allu
vial deposit, capable of producing all the grains and fruits
which can be grown in the other parts of the Colony.
Unfortunately, however, the land adjacent* is almost
universally scrubby, and of Uttle value, unless as pasture
for a limited number of cattle. Agriculture must, there
fore, become the principal pursuit of such as settle along
the banks of the Murray; and, as an agricultural dis
trict, its rich soil, plentiful supply of fresh water for irri
gation, if necessary, and the facUity of water carriage, are
advantages which render it probable tbat, in a few years,
the banks of that magnificent river wiU be lined with a
numerous and flourishing population. A small settle
ment has already been formed, and, as considerable quan
tities of land have been purchased on its banks, raore
Emigrants are likely to follow. And it is not at aU
])eyond the bounds of probability, that, ere long, the
• In order to understand this, and the peculiar formation of the
banks of this riyer, the following note, from the pen of Colonel
Gawler, will be useful to the reader : 
" The valley of the Murray in its whole length—;, e. for about
200 miles — in South Australia, is a hollow, cut through a vast
marine fossil formation, so that the hills and cliffs of either bank
stand sometimes close to the margin of the riyer, sometimes at
distances of one or two miles from it, at elevations of about 300
feet. The yalley itself, in its whole course, is from three-fourths
of a mile to two miles in breadth^the more general breadth IJ
miles. The riyer flowing through it is from 100 to 250 yards in
breadth. "The long line of hills and cliffs which bound the Murray, main
tain throughout a rough parallelism to eaoh other, but the riyer
scarcely ever preserves an equal course between them. It sweeps
continually in magnificent reaches from side to side encircling
never-ceasing flats of from half a mUe to four and five miles in length.

39
Settlers in the "far west" of New South Wales, will
find it more advantageous to send their produce down
the Murray, and receive back their supplies J>y the sarae
channel, than to send to Sydney, a distance by land, in
many cases, of 200 to 300 railes.
The other rivers or strearas in South Australia at pre
sent known, are the Inraan, Hindmarsh, Currency Creek,
Torrens, Angas, and Bremer, falling into Encounter Bay
and Lake Alexandrina ; the Onkaparinga, Sturt, Torrens,
Upper and Lower Para, Gawler, Hutt, Light, Wakefield,
Rhine, and Broughton, falling into, or running towards,
Gulf St. Vincent, with numerous other minor streams
and tributaries.
The Onkaparinga River, though it cannot be called
navigable, yet maintains for sorae railes a deep chan
nel, and were the bar at its entrance removed, which
at present prevents even a boat from entering, it might
become navigable for small craft as far as the township
of Noarlunga, situate on the great south road, a few
miles from the sea-coast.
The harbour of Adelaide, which many confuse with the
River Torrens, is not properly a river. It is a creek or
indentation of the sea, assuming the appearance of a
river, and running for upwards of twelve miles inland,
having nuraerous branches. There are two entrances from
the sea, a north and a south — ^the northern entrance is
very shaUow — the southern contains deep water for ten
miles up. There is a sand bar, however, at the entrance,
on which there is only about sixteen feet water at high
water. In the rainy season, the Torrens erapties some
of its waters into the head of the creek, and hence, I pre
surae, has arisen the misunderstanding regarding that
river, and the many contradictory reports which have
been made public regarding it.

40
The mountain ranges of South AustraUa consist of
various formations. The Mount Barker Range consists
of ironstone, others of Umestone, granite, slate, &c. Spe
ciraens of lead, copper, and silver ore have been discovered
in some of them. An attempt was made some time ago
to work a vein of lead and silver ore in the Mount Lofty
Range, but was not foUowed up — the Settlers being too
busily eraployed as yet with the more necessary and cer
tain pursuits of farming, to have their attention drawn to
the hazardous one of mining.
Slate is found in great abundance, and of exceUent
quality, especially in the ranges at Willunga, some dis
tance south of Adelaide, and has been worked not only
for horae use, but also for exportation to the neighbour
ing Colonies.
I have heard that a specimen of coal has been found, but
nothing like a vein of that useful mineral has yet been
discovered. Wood is consequently the universal fuel.
Limestone and ironstone are plentiful, and easily pro
cured. A German geologist has published a Ust of the
minerals, &c., found in the Colony, among which are
various kinds of precious stones, &c., but I do not think
it of sufficient consequence to publish here.
I may now allude to the aniraal and vegetable produc
tions of the Colony ; but here the reader need not expect
a learned dissertation on the history, genus, or species,
of each particular aniraal, bird, tree, or bush, with a
string of Latin naraes, which not one in fifty would un
derstand. My intention here, and indeed throughout,
is merely to give plain raatter of fact inforraation, for
the benefit of the general reader.
First, then, as to timber. The tree found in greatest
abundance is the gum tree in its several varieties. So
far as my observations go, these t^e their general char-

41
acteristics principaUy from the soil in which they are pro
duced. Thus, in alluvial flats, and along the banlcs of
streams and rivers, is found what is terraed the flooded
gum — a majestic-looking tree, with a short thick stem,
with imraense branches spreading all around, and the
sraaUer boughs drooping towards the ground. This tree
is of little use except for ornaraent, and when cut is only
used as fuel. Then, in drier parts of the country,^ but
generaUy in a good soil, is found the red and white gum,
trees something of the same kind as the flooded gum, but
much taller and thinner in the stem, and free of branches
for a considerable height. This tree is useful for fencing.
In less fruitful soils, is found a stunted kind of gum
tree, crooked and deformed, and of little use except as
fuel. And in the mountain ranges grows the magnificent
stringy bark, towering majestically, sometimes as high as
100 feet, without a single bend or branch, and surmount
ed by a tuft of boughs and foliage. This is, to the Set
tlers, the most valuable of all trees. It splits with ease,
and so straight and regular is the grain, that it is made
into thin, though rough boards, with the axe. It is Uke
wise spUt into posts and raUs for fencing, into thin slabs
or paUngs for a Uke purpose, and into shingles, the almost
universal substitute for slates, in the AustraUan Colonies.
These shingles are from a foot to eighteen inches in
length, four to five inches in breadth, and half an inch
thick, and form a very good roof. The stringy bark is
also sawn into battens, and other forms, for roofing, &c.
I saw a fine tree of this wood raade into a mainraast
for a barque of between 400 and 500 tons, and though
rather heavy, having been put in green, I was since in
formed that it gave the utmost satisfaction to the com
mander and owners of the vessel.

42
The gum tree is extensively used for ship-building pur
poses in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and
a few small vessels have Ukewise been built of it in
South Australia.
The she oak is a tree which attains only a smaU size,
and is found in abundance in many parts — principally in
the undulating country. It is sometimes used in fencing.
It is capable of receiving a very high pohsh, as is also the
gum wood. I have seen ornaments and articles of furni
ture made of gum and she oak which looked remarkably
well. They are both, however, very hard to work.
The pine is found in considerable quantities in some
locahties. It is easily worked, and useful. The trees,
bowever, do not attain a large size, and they are princi
pally used in fencing, roofing, &c. There is no tiraber in
the country fit to be converted into deals or boards. All
such is iraported from England, the Baltic, or Singapore.
Indian cedar, which ean be purchased at a cheap rate at
the latter place, is extensively used for flooring and
finishing houses, and also in making furniture. Although
cedar is found in abundance in New South Wales, it has
not yet been discovered in South Australia.
In addition to the trees mentioned above, there are nu
merous varieties of shrubs, such as the cherry tree, the
mimosa, acacia fragrans, gum wattle, and many others,
raost of which are very handsome, and some of thera bear
pretty blossoras.
' Of flowers there are thousands of every description
and hue, from the tiraid creeping "red-bell" upwards. I
am not botanist enough, however, to describe them parti
cularly, or to give even the names of many of them.
They are mostly different from the flowers found in this
country. It is worthy of note, that, though very beauti-

43
ful and variegated in colours, raost of the Australian
flowers are destitute of smell.
A species of flax is found growing in some districts,
which I have been assured by a gentleman intimately ac
quainted with flax and the flax trade of Britain, might be
come an article of considerable importance in traffic, if
attended to. Specimens of indigenous cotton and other
plants have likewise been found, but as yet none of these
have been attended to by the Settlers.
Of grasses, that named the kangaroo grass, from the
animal of that name feeding on it, is the most general. It
affords very nutritive food for sheep and cattle when
growing, and is likewise cut in quantities for hay. I have
rode through miles of country where this grass was grow
ing as thick and strong as ryegrass in an English hay field.
To show the absurdity of reraarks which have appeared in
print about the grass in South Australia growing in tufts,
and at distances of soraetiraes a yard apart, I may here men
tion that it is no uncommon thing to see from one to two
tons of this grass cut per acre for hay. The kangaroo
grass is found in greatest abundance in the hills or un
dulating parts of the country. The Adelaide plains are
almost destitute of it.
There is a kind of grass known by the Colonists as the
" spear g^ass," which is a source of rauch inconvenience,
and at tiraes of considerable loss to the sheep farmer. The
seeds of this grass are contained in a husk which is covered
with prickles, or kind of burrs. The blades of the grass,
too, when ripe, are something sirailar to the heads of bar
ley, sticldng to whatever they corae in contact with.
This grass and its seeds get into the wool of the sheep,
and it is no easy matter to clear it from them. The Lon
don buyers have lately been complaining rauch of the

44
condition of some wools from AustraUa, (not South Aus
traUa particularly,) as being much injured by this grass.
Some parts of South Australia are quite free of it, others
are not. The only remedy where it exists is, I beUeve,
to shear the sheep early ere the grass ripens.
There is scarce anything that deserves the name of
fmit found in South AustraUa, or any part of New
Holland, naturally. Edible roots are equaUy scarce.
There are sorae kinds of sraall berries which have been
dignified with the names of the " native apple," "cherry,"'
&c., but most of them are no larger than peas.
With regard to the animal creation. South Australia, in
common with the other settlements in New HoUand, is
happily free from that scourge, under which many coun
tries labour — naraely, the existence of beasts of prey. The
only aniraal found in AustraUa which is in any way
troublesome, is a kind of jackaU, called the native or wild
dog ; an aniraal very siraUar both in appearance and habits
to the EngUsh fox. Its attacks are always directed against
the sheep, and a considerable degree of vigUance is
necessary to preserve thera from its wUes. But there is
no aniraal in South Australia which will attack a man —
in fact the wild dog is the only animal against which the
Settlers have in any way to guard. There is a pack of
hounds in the Colony, which the sporting gentlemen at
times amuse themselves with, in hunting the wild dog.
The kangaroo is the largest quadruped found in the
country. This singular animal has already been so often
described, that it is unnecessary here to give a particular
account of it. Kangaroos are found in great numbers in
most of the districts of South AustraUa ; although they
gradually seem to retire into the interior as civilization
advances. A kind of hound, something like the Scotch

45
stag-hound, is common in the country, for hunting them.
The kangaroo is very shy, and it is seldom the hunter
can get one within rifle range. Most of them are there
fore taken with the hounds. They mn, or rather leap
at a great rate, and a good horse is necessary to follow
the chase. The flesh of the aniraal is excellent eating,
and at tiraes it forms a considerable portion of the food of
those in the back settlements.
The varieties of smaUer animals are numerous — such
as the bandicoot, waUaby, oppossum, &c., all of which par
take of the character and appearance of the kangaroo.
The characteristics of that animal, indeed, seem to be main
tained throughout aU the inferior creation — even rats and
mice foUow the rule which nature seems to have estabUsh
ed ; and hence the name of kangaroo rats, Ssc. The
skins of the waUaby and oppossum are covered with a
coarse fur, which renders them of sorae value, and the
animals are in consequence sought after by the natives,
who having prepared the skins, sew them together with
the sinews, and thus forra a kind of cloak or rug —
the only dress which many of the aborigines wear.
These rugs are also bought by the Settlers, who find them
very useful as a substitute for blankets when traveUing in
the " Bush," and indeed among raany of those living in
the country they supply the place of blankets altogether.
The kangaroo lives principaUy in the woods, and feeds
on grass ; the waUaby burrows in the ground ; and the
oppossura (a kind of squirrel,) takes up its abode in the
hollow parts of old trees, whence it issues at night to feed
on the young twigs. Rabbits, though not natural to the
country, have been introduced by the Settlers, and are
now found in considerable numbers, especially on an island
at Encounter Bay.

46
Lizards of various kinds are nuraerous, and ofall sizes,
frora two inches up to two feet in l«igth.
Snakes are by no means numerous, although frequently
raet with, especially in darap places. They are of various
kinds,, and the bite of some is dangerous. I have known
animals die from the effects of the bite of a snake ; but
never heard of a huraan being being bitten. The largest
snake I saw in the Colony was about eight feet long, but
the general size is from two to five feet. A small black
snake is considered the most dangerous.
There are other reptiles of diffarent kinds. The bite
of the centipede, which is plentiful, is generally supposed,
but without cause, to be fatal. Of insects there is an end
less variety, but there are scarcely any that are trouble
some. Indeed mosqultos are almost the only insect of
annoyance, and except in marshy places, and close to the
banks of streams, they are not numerous. They are of
moderate size, and in some persons their bite is attended
with considerable irritation and inflammation. On others
it has no effect.
The varieties of birds it is irapossible here to enumerate.
The emu or AustraUan ostrich is the largest. This bird,
though possessed of a kind of wings, has not the power of
flying, but uses them to assist it in running. It thus im
pels itself along at a rate equal to that of the fleetest grey
hound. There are swans in abundance about the Murray
and Lake Alexandrina. Wild geese and turkeys are also
plentiful ; and ducks or teal, with other descriptions of
water fowl, are found in imraense numbers about Port
Adelaide and the numerous creeks which surround it, and
in the neighbourhood of the various streams and lagunes
throughout the country. The ornithicus paradoxus
which seems half duck half raole, is found on the Murray.

47
Cockatoos, black and white, are in thousands. Parrots
and parroquets in legions, and of every variety, raany of
them of the most beautiful and variegated pluraage. A
kind of pigeon, with beautifuUy bronzed wings, whence it
takes its name, is met with ; hawks and eagles are occa
sionally seen, though by no means numerous. Owls of
various kinds exist — the comraon crow is found in sorae
locahties, though not in numbera ; and an immense variety
of smaller birds, by far " too numerous to raention," sorae
of them simUar to the feathered tribes of this country,
others not. Most of the birds of AustraUa, Uke the
flowera, are only to be looked at ; few of them sing, and
those possessed of the richest plumage emit no sound but
a disagreeable screara.
The birds sought after as food are the erau, turkey,
duck or teal, and quail — the last raentioned is very plen
tiful at certain seasons of the year. Parrots and cocka
toos are eatable, but seldom used as food. The skins of
the swans are valuable for the down.
The sea and its branches are proUfic in fish. Many
varieties exist whicb are unknown in this country, and in
deed I have seen some species caught which would puzzle
even a naturalist to find a name for. Of the more com
mon descriptions, the snapper, cod, salmon,* barracouta,
and a variety of small fish, are excellent eating. These
are caught in the harbour and gulfs, and along the coast
in great numbers. The fresh water rivers are but poorly
suppUed with fish, and the pleasant amusement of angling
is almost unknown.
Oystere and other shell-fish are procured in Gulf St.
Vincent, and the epicures of Adelaide are seldom without
a supply.
* In Colonial parlance so called, from a supposed resemblance to
that fish. "^

48
CHAP. IIL
CLIMATE.

" Exquisite is the coolness of the mornings and evenings— cheer
ing the briUiancy of the mid-day sun — brilliant the revelations of the
starry host — ' the poetry of the heavens at night !' There is no
moonlight more silvery, soft, and delicious, than the moonlight of
Madrid."

The salubrity of the climate of Austraha is all but uni
versally admitted by those who have dwelt in, or visited
that country. In this respect, it is indeed blessed beyond
most places on the earth. Other countries there are where
the climate is equally agreeable and healthy, but few, if
any, where it is more so.
A knowledge ofthe geographical position of South Aus
tralia carries with it the fact that the climate must be
warra. The peculiar dryness of the atraosphere, however,
and the absence of swaraps or fens, which abound in many
hot countries, so temper the heat, that it produces Uttle or
none of that enervating effect on the constitution which is
generally brought on by a residence in the East or West
Indies. Another advantage Australia possesses is, that
the hot is also the dry season. In many countries the
hottest part of the year is accompanied with torrents of
rain, which load the atraosphere with raoisture — whence
arises fogs and malaria, and these again produce fevers,
agues, &c. The reverse of this is the case in South Aus
tralia; and the consequent dryness ofthe air robs the heat
of any unhealthy tendency — it being a weU known fact,
that a much greater degree of heat or cold can be borne
in an arid than in a moist situation, without inconvenience.
South Australia being to the southward of the Equator,
has the seasons the reverse of what they are in Britain.
Thus Christmas, which in England is generally ushered in

49
with frost and snow, and is always associated with a snug
room and a blazing fire, is mid-summer in AustraUa; whUe
the month of July is the depth of the Australian winter.
" Winter," indeed, is scarcely an appropriate term — the
months of June, July, and August, being very different from
the cold, sleety, or frosty months of November, December,
and January — ^the winter mouths of Britain. The Aus
traUan winter may be, with better propriety, called the
" rainy season" — and this is the term generaUy used by
the Colonists. Frost and snow, the characteristics of
winter, are almost unknown, except in the hill districts,
where, during July and August, hoar frosts, and a slight
sprinkling of ice in the raornings are not unfrequent.
The rainy season coraraences towards the end of May,
or early in June. The weather gradually becoraes cooler
from March ; but it is not till May or June that the rains
begin to come down in earnest. The temperature during
the raonths of June, July, and August, generaUy ranges
from 45° to 65?. The weather resembles May in Eng
land, there being a few fine genial days, foUowed by two
or three of almost continued rain. In August the rains
are at the heaviest, and in September they begin slightly
to abate. This and the succeeding raonth forra the pleas
antest season of the year. The temperature is delightful —
one has no occasion for a great-coat out of doors, or a
fire in-doors — day after day the sun rises in unclouded
splendour, and sets in streams of golden light — nature has
put on her gayest attire — the corn plats are waving with
their crops of wheat — the fields are covered with a mantle
of the richest green, interspersed with gay flowers — and
everything seems bursting into new Ufe under the genial
rays of the sun, which has begun to retrace its course to
wards the tropic of Capricorn. A few days of this weather,
e5

50
and a day or two of rain succeeds— which only serve to
give an additional irapetus to vegetation— when the sun
again drives away the clouds, and shines forth with re
newed brilUancy. It is actually a luxury to breath the
morning and evening air at this season of the year. Often
have I strolled about from sunrise tiU breakfast time,
revelling in the luxury attendant on a ride or walk in the
fields ; and at such a time a person cannot help compar
ing the gloomy, cold, and dismal appearance of an English
morning in February or March with the beauties of an
AustraUan spring, or even winter morning.
The month of Noveraber is a continuance of such
weather, but the warmth graduaUy increasing, and the
rains becoming less plentiful. December brings with it all
the heat of sumraer. In most seasons there are occasional
showers during this month, but in a dry season it may pass
without rain. The temperature towards the end of the
month reaches its maximum. The heat of summer is
terapered by almost constant cool breezes, which blow
with considerable regularity as land and sea breezes. In
moderate and regular weather, the wind comraonly goes
right round the compass daily. In the morning it blows
a gentle breeze from the east or the north-east, veering
as the day advances to north and north-west. In the fore
noon the sea breeze sets in from the west, which as the sun
declines shifts to south-west, south, and in the evening to
south-east. In winter the winds prevail from north-west
and west, with occasional gales frora the south-west and
southward. During the suramer raonths. South Australia, in com
mon with the other parts of the island, is subject to sir
occos, or hot winds, regarding which there has been many
opinions among scientific gentlemen. These winds blow .

51
from the north or north-east, sometiraes lasting for one,
and seldom for raore than two days. During this time,
the wind blows in a continued current of heated air, some
times so hot as to feel disagreeable to the face, and caus
ing a blistering of tbe skin in those who are not accus
tomed to face it. The annoyance is increased, too, by
clouds of dust, which invariably visit the town of Ade
laide when a high wind occurs, unaccorapanied by rain.
The dust thus raised is so fine, that it penetrates through
every crevice, so that there is scarcely a dust proof honse
in the Colony. But this annoyance is of course confined
to the denizens of the city. Even the scorching heat of
the sun and wind is not felt so much in the country — the
reflection of the sun from the streets and houses tending
materiaUy to increase the heat in town.
These siroccos, after blowing for a short time, gener
ally bring up masses of clouds from the north, and are
succeeded by rain, and frequently a thunder storm, by
which the atmosphere is soon cooled. During the con
tinuance of a hot wind, the thermometer very often rises
as high as from 100° to 110° in the -shade. This may
appear to be quite high enough to be corafortable, and
indeed it is so;' but these are the only really disagreeable
days of the Australian suramer, and do not, on the aver
age, amount to more than ten or twelve days of the year.
Yet these winds, though exceedingly unpleasant, pro
duce no bad effects beyond a little lassitude, unless on
extreme exposure, or where incautious drinking of cold
water is indulged in. As a proof of this, I may raention,
that I was out on horseback, along with a friend, during
one of the most intense siroccos I ever felt, in the end
of 1841. The country through which we were travel
ling was on fire, the sraoke and heat from which tended
•to augment that of the wind ; and to add still farther to

52
our discomfort, one of our horses was lost in a river
when about fifteen miles from any station, and after rauch
labour and fatigue, we were obliged to raake the best of
our way back to where we started from, with only the
remaining horse between us. Yet although we were
out from sunrise tiU sunset — riding and W0lking under
a burning sun — soraetiraes through blazing forests, and
with a most grievous sirocco blowing — without food, and
alraost without water — our way being through a barren
scrub — neither of us felt anything more than a Uttle tem
porary fatigue, which was reraoved by a cold bath and a
sound sleep, and we were both on horaeback from day-
dawn till sunset every day for a week afterwards.
The best method of illustrating the nature of the clim
ate throughout the year, will be to give a summary of
the results of meterological observations made by scien
tific gentlemen in the Colony. With this view I have
compiled the following table, which shows the highest,
lowest, and average range of the thermoraeter during
each raonth, with the quantity of rain that fell therein.
It is for the year coraraencing 1st November, 1840, and
ending 31st October, 1841; —

At Mid-day.

At Nine Eyening.

Average

Days on
which
rain fell

Quantity

Mths..

at mid
day.

of

Highest.

Lowest.

Highest.

Lowest.

Kain.

1840.

deg.

deg.

deg.

deg.

deg.

inches.
Nov.
99
65
82
57
79
4
019
Deo.
102
68
89
64
84
6
3-82
1841.
Jan.
93
72
87
64
82
2
•45
Feb.
100
65
87
55
S3
3
¦35
Mar.
99
64
83
62
80
4
¦81
April
80
63
73
50
70
12
3-57
May
81
60
68
52
77
8
)-71
Jnne
73
54
64
50
63
7 .
2-32
July
66
52
62
47
62
10
¦857
Aug.
77
51
67
43
60
15
2-813
Sept.
79
52
69
48
66
10
0-045
Get.
91
59
85
56
69
6
¦94
53

The hottest day of the above year was the l7th Dec,
1840, when the thermometer reached 102° at raid-day.
This was during a hot wind, which lasted throughout the
I6th and l7th, and was succeeded by a fresh breeze from
the south-west, accorapanied by three days' heavy rain.
On the 24th another hot wind occurred, which was fol
lowed on Christraas day by a cool breeze and fine weather.
The coldest day of the year, ending 31st Oct., 1841,
was the 5th of August, when the therraoraeter stood, at
nine in the raorning, at 45° ; at mid-day at 51° ; and at
nine in the evening at 43°. For one hundred and five
days the thermometer ranged at noon from 70° to 80° ;
and for one hundred and nineteen days it ranged frora
60° to 70°; thus showing that, for two-thirds of the
year, the raid-day heat in-doors varies frora 60° to 80°,
being sirailar to fine summer weather in Britain.
The subjoined table shows, in a clear view, the quan
tity of rain that fell during the three years I was in the
Colony, with the nuraber of days on which it rained each
year: —

Months.

1839.
days Rain.

1840.
days Rain.

1841.
days Rain.

January 
February... March 
April 
May 
June; 
July 
August 
September.October 
November.. December..

0-453
0-446 0-85
0-3790-245
3-497 2'1284-7670-852-57 3-310-345

0-335 2-01
0-437 1-2021-487
3-247 1-9
2-8294-64 1-9
0-19 3-82

0-450-350-813-57 1-71
2-320-8572-8132-045 0-94

Totals  102

19-840

93

23-997

77

15-865

Having spoken thus much regarding the cliraate gener
ally, it raay now be proper to inquire how the general

54
health of the Colonists stands, and whether there are any
diseases peculiar to the country. In this respect I say,
without hesitation or fear of contradiction, that there is
no disease of any consequence peculiar to South Austra
lia—that many diseases common in Britain and other
countries are almost unknown there — and that diseases
incident to, or contracted in, raoist climates, may be, if
not cured, at least alleviated, by a residence in South
AustraUa. I am fortunately in a position to produce the
testimony of more <3ran one mechcal gentleman in con
firmation of this, statement qf ray own.
In the early stages of the Colony, diarrhtea, dysentery,
and ophthalmia prevailed to a considerable extent among
the emigrants. The two former diseases were caused
partly by a change of climate, but raore particularly by the
change of diet, on coraing from on board ship — ^in some
instances by a too free indulgence in ardent spirits, and
frequently by drinking cold water when the body was in a
state of perspiration. A number of children and some
grown-up people fell victiras to these diseases, but they
have now almost entirely disappeared. Ophthalmia was
caused by the want of proper habitations, the constant
glare of the sun, and a carelessness in shading the eyes
while exposed to the solar rays ; but a case of this disease
is now of very rare occurrence.
Fever at one time existed in the Colony, but, with the
exception of a few isolated cases, it too, is now unknown.
The first evidence whioh I adduce to bear out these
remarks is that of a raedical man residing in the Colony,
whither he went in search of health. He reached the
Colony in the end of the suraraer of 1839-40, when
South Australia was but in its infancy, and in May 1842,
he writes : —

55
" I soon found that I had come to the Colony too soon,
and the privations I suffered for the first year were such,
that had it not been for the delightful climate, I could not
have survived them. During the months of April, May,
and June, the weather appeared to me more serene and
beautiful than anything I had ever seen. I had looked
forward with dread to the winter months, which I expect
ed to find very wet and cold. How agreeably disappoint
ed then did I feel at seeing the first months of winter
pass so pleasantly. An occasional shower, sufficient to
support vegetation, was the only interruption to their
calm seremty. During the night there was generally a
deposit of dew or hoar frost, and on one or two occasions,
a thin film of ice had formed upon the water.
" July brings along with it heavy showers, and towards
the latter part of it, the weather for days together is
stormy, cold, and wet.
" The commencement of August is generaUy cold and
wet, the temperature averages 61 deg. As the month ad
vances the weather improves ; the showers, though heavy,
are of short duration ; and in the intervals the sun shines
forth as in our finest April weather at horae.
" During Septeraber and the greatest part of October
the showers, though heavy, becorae less frequent, and we
have spring in aU its beauty.
" Spring at home I had learned to associate with easterly
winds, colds, coughs, and sore throats, but in Australia
we have it as sung by the poet of the Seasons — ' Spring,
with its etherial mUdness,' six months of the year, almost
without interruption.
" Notwithstanding the heavy rains of July and August,
there are probably not six days of winter or spring, which
ever we term it, between the middle of April and the

56
middle of October, in which an invalid could not walk or
ride out with pleasure. The raoisture is so quickly ab
sorbed by the soU that, in the country, it is generally dry
underfoot in the interval of the showers.
He then speaks more particularly of diseases : —
" It is a very common mistake in this part of the world
to give the name of dysentery to coraraon diarrhoea — dis
eases totally different. Diarrhoea is a relaxed state of the
bowels, an affection which attacks most people landing
after a long sea voyage, and is owing generaUy to a change
of diet.
" Before leaving Britain, I remeraber to have felt con
siderable alarm at some stateraents made there, regarding
the great prevalence of dysentery in South Australia, hav
ing witnessed the fearful effects of that disease in the East
Indies, but felt greatly relieved when I found the term ap
plied to diarrhoea.
" The treatraent of diarrhoea is of a very simple kind ;
in the majority of cases, the disease cures itself, if care be
taken to avoid all irritating or indigestible raatters.
" Dysentery is regarded as a disease of warm climates,
but it is found to prevail more in those places where liver
complaint is a frequent disease.
" That the climate of South Australia is obnoxious to
dysentery there is no reason to believe ; and liver com
plaint seems to be a more rare disease than even in
Britain. I have been much surprised at the very small
number of cases that occur of functional derangement of
the liver in this country.
" During the winter of 1840 dysentery prevailed in the
Colony, as also fever, by which many were cut off. The
cause of the disease lay in the discomfort to which num
bers were subjected upon landing, the crowding together

57
of so many in the filthy huts, which served as dwellings
at that time, the bad quality of the bread, and the want of
acid and acescent food. Since vegetables have been raised
in abundance, and good flour has been substituted for the
trash that went under tbat narae two or three years since,
disease of any kind has been very rare. Indeed,
South AustraUa may challenge any part of the world in
point of salubrity."
Another raedical raan who has resided some years in
the Colony enumerates the diseases which occur most fre
quently as being— diarrhoea, bilious fever, brain fever, ty
phus fever — these sometimes partaking of the character of
each other ; rheumatism, ophthalmia, small wounds taking
a scorbutic character, difficult to heal, and chronic diseases
from misceUaneous causes. The fever cases are the most
important, but these are comparatively of rare occurrence,
and, when they do occur, have generaUy been traced to
mental irritation and disappointraent.
The only other testimony which I shall add, is that of
the Rev. Mr. Stow — the able and zealous pastor of
the Independent body in Adelaide — who, as such, has
constant opportunities of ascertaining the state of healtb,
in his own congregation at least, which is a large one. Mr.
Stow, under date the 27th April, 1842, says: — "The
greater part ofthe year is deUghtful — the winter is pleasant
— and the autumn and spring are, for mUd and balmy sweet
ness, the perfection of climate. Two or three years back,
we had fears as to its effect on health, as there was consi
derable mortality. But our feara are quite gone. For
two years past the statistics have been raost satisfactory.
There has been but Uttle sickness and few deaths. As a
minister of twenty years standing, I ean say that I
have never had in my congregation, in proportion to
p

58
numbers, so little sickness as since I have heen here.
We have no epidemics. Dysentery (diarrhoea) soraetimes
occurs, but in isolated, and for the most part, well ac
counted for cases. I need scarcely say that to consump
tive persons our cUraate promises much, and that in many
instances, it has checked the msdady and saved the sufferer."
It is almost superfluous to add anything to these state
ments. I may therefore merely remark, regarding the
concluding sentence of the above extract, that though I do
not suppose any one labouring under a confirmed case of
genuine pulmonary consumption would be cured by a resi
dence in South Australia, yet I have Uttle doubt Ufe would
be prolonged ; and such as may be pre- disposed to con
sumption or asthma, or where the disease is not deeply
rooted in the system, might, by careful attention to cloth
ing, regimen, &c., with great confidence look on the cli
mate of the colony as the means of preventing the disease
or of arresting its progress. I have seen several instances
of people labouring under severe asthma, having been com
pletely cured by a residence in the Colony. Colds, the
origin of so much disease and mortaUty in Britain, are
almost unknown in AustraUa ; notwithstanding the care
lessness of raany persons, as to clothing, exposure to night
air, &c. I have, myself, repeatedly slept on the ground,
in the open air, sometimes even wet, and never had a
cold during the three years I was in South AustraUa.

59

CHAP. IV.
THE NATIVE INHABITANTS.

" The wandering savage,
Roaming like wolf throngh woods in search of food,
WTierewith t' support his sun-scorched swarthy frame.'

The aborigines of New Holland have generally, and I
beUeve justly, been ranked as the lowest step in the scale
of humanity. They are not only ignorant of anything
relating to art or science, but have even no idea of any
means of procuring food beyond what Nature suppUes.
The Red Indian of America has his bow and arrow,
or his rifle, to kill game — the South Sea Islander cul
tivates his yams and bread fruit — the New Zealander
plants his maize and potatoes, and rears his pigs — but the
New HoUander's garden consists of the trackless forests,
where only a few scanty roots are to be obtained — and
he goes forth to his hunting arraed siraply with a slender
sharp-pointed wand, or a heavy club, and has conse-
sequently to depend more on subtlety by taking his prey
unawares, than on any art of his own. StiU, though so
low in the scale of civilization, the native often shows an
acuteness and sagacity not to be expected in one appa
rently so ignorant.
The native population of Australia is by no raeans
nuraerous. Within the settled districts of South Aus
traUa, the whole nuraber of aborigines does not exceed
700. They are divided into tribes, each tribe having its
own district of country or hunting ground. Every tribe
has also a chief, who seems to be generally selected for
personal courage or physical strength, and who maintains
his position by force of arras if necessary.

60
The reasons to which may be ascribed so limited a
population are these : — Continual wars between the vari
ous tribes, and quarrels among individuals; polygamy;
ilUcit intercourse between the males and females ; and
infanticide. In a country, too, which, in its natural state,
produces Uttle for the support of human Ufe, and where
its inhabitants have no knowledge of cultivating the soil,
they must necessarily be scattered over a great extent
of country.
The physical appearance of the aborigines of South
Australia is not generally disagreeable. The men are
mostly weU-formed and athletic, and the different parts
of the body fairly proportioned. They vary in height
from five to six feet — the average will be nearly the
same as in Europeans. The women are much shorter,
and are not nearly so well formed as the men. Their
features are mostly disagreeable — their bodies slender —
their legs and arras attenuated and shapeless. In the
men, the legs and arras are, on the contrary, well shaped.
The head is large, and thickly covered with coarse black
hair — not woolly like the negroes. The forehead is rather
prominent, eyes sunk, nose flat and very broad, mouth
wide, lips somewhat thickened, which, when separated,
disclose a set of beautifuUy regular white teeth. The chest
is full and broad, and the abdoraen, especiaUy in children,
large. The skin is not jet black, but of a very dark cop
per colour. The males are active, and walk erect, and
with a majestic mein; the women appear indolent, and
come crawling along in the rear. The females indeed
appear more Uke slaves than equals — on them devolves
all the drudgery — they have to carry the chUdren, food,
&c., while the husband walks in front, with no other in
cumbrance than his implements of war or hunting.

61
In their natural state they seldom — the males and chil
dren especiaUy — wear any dress. Where opossums are
numerous, they raake cloaks of the skins of that animal,
which are sometiraes worn ; along the sea coast, where
their food consists principally of fish, they raake cover
ings with grass, rushes, or sea-weed. In Adelaide and
neighbourhood, raost of the men and women are supplied
with some kind of covering, either by Government or by
private Settlera. The men sometiraes have a blanket or
rug, soraetimes part of European clothing. One may
be seen wearing a shirt, another a pair of trousers, some
may even be better clad. One day I saw a young man
walking along the streets, stmtting most pompously with
a single white cotton stocking on one foot. Another
time I remember observing a raan whose only article of
dress consisted of an old hat.
In the article of food, scarcely anything comes amiss
to them. At one season of the year, herbs and roots
forra a great proportion of their sustenance; at another,
eggs, and young birds or animals, fish, lizards, iguanos,
and even snakes; in summer, opossums and the gum
of the wattle ; and at other times various small indigen
ous fraits, &c. Vegetables are eaten by all indiscrimi
nately. Females and young men are not permitted to eat
animals, or some parts of them ; fish, and the female kan
garoo, are not eaten by young unmarried men ; and girls,
and woraen until the birth of their second child, are for
bidden to eat opossuras and emus.
In hunting, various modes are adopted of obtaining
prey. The kangaroo, emu, &c., are either killed with
the spear or caught in a net; such aniraals as burrow
in the ground are dug out or caught in nets ; opossums,
whieh keep in the trees, are either watched at night, when
r5

62
they come out to feed, or they are caught in the holes of
the trees, where they hide during the day. Sometimes
the tree is set on fire, or a fire lighted at its root, until
the animals are obliged to leave their holes, and they
then faU under the unerring aim of the black hunter,
who, with eagle eyes, watches at the foot of the tree.
It may here be as well to describe the various imple
ments used both for war and hunting. The chief instru
ment is a large spear called by them the tninda. It con
sists of a straight wand of some hard wood, being from
eight to twelve feet long, and pointed at one end. When
used for hunting, it is plain at the point ; when in battle,
it is sometimes barbed with sraall pieces of flint or glass,
stuck on with gura ; for fishing, tlhere are barbs cut on it
for several inches frora the point. This spear is thrown
with the hand, but not beyond a distance of ten to fifteen
yards. A sraaUer spear, about six feet long, called the kaiya,
is composed of two parts — the lower of some hard wood,
and pointed — the upper of a piece of reed, or a kind of
shrub caUed the grass tree. In throwing this spear, a
short propelling stick called the midla is used, by which
it can be thrown with great precision a distance of from
fifty to seventy yards.
The wirri — generally called by the Settlers waddle —
is a kind of club about two feet long, having a knob
at one end, and the other cut in a rude manner, some
thing in the forra of a screw, to ensure a firm hold in
the hand. Wirris are of various sizes, and are thrown
by the hand with great dexterity.
These are the chief iraplements used in hunting or
fighting. They have a shield made of the thick bark of
a tree, with which thej protect themselves in battle.

63
Their nets, with which they catch fish, and sometimes
animals, are made of the fibres of plants, which are pre
pared by chewing, and then rubbing them into a kind of
string on the bare thigh. I have been astonished to wit
ness the rapidity with which they will thus manufacture
a line, either from the fibres of plants or from pieces of
old rope.
In preparing their implements, the only tools they
have — or at least that they had before the arrival of the
white Settlers — are such as Nature supplies. Flint is
used as a knife, or attached by gum to a handle, forms
a kind of hatchet or tomahawk; and even shells are
soraetimes used as a substitute for flint where the latter
is scarce. They make a needle of the leg-bone of the
kangaroo or emu. It is used in the same manner as a
shoemaker uses an awl. Their thread is made of the
tendons of the kangaroo and other animals.
Their dwellings or encampments consist of slight tem
porary erections, forming nothing more than a kind of
break-weather. In summer, these huts or wurlies are
composed of a few branches laid upon each other, form
ing a semicircle. In winter they are more particular
with their dwelUngs. They erect a kind of hut simi
lar to the half of a bee-hive, formed of branches, having
the interstices filled up with bark, grass, and mud. The
erections are rude and simple, easily built and as easily
•destroyed. A permanent residence is unknown among
thera — their sojourn in any place seldora extending to
more than a month or six weeks.
They thus wander about the country, sometimes in
tribes, sometiraes in families. At times the tribe will be
¦scattered all over the country, but they frequently come
itqgether and encamp in one place. In the evenings they

64
form in groups and converse together, and sometimes
perform the Corroborie. In the morning the young
and vigorous start out in various directions in search of
supplies — the male after animal, the female after vege
table, food.
Occasionally different tribes assemble together, some
times for conviviality, sometiraes for war. If for the for
mer, and any are strangers to each other, they undergo
a formal introduction their lineage and country being
briefly described by the older men. They then meet
together in the evening and have a Corroborie. If as
sembled for the purpose of war, certain ceremonies, which
it is impossible to describe, are gone through in the eveu
ing, both tribes appearing in the war paint, and with their
arms. The two tribes meet each other, and seem, from
their gestures and language, to speak contemptuously of
one another, until they raise themselves to a terrible pitch
of exciteraent, uttering the most horrid yeUs, and throw
ing their bodies into various postures, quivering their
spears, &c. They then part for the night — each tribe
perforras the war dance — and at day-Ught next morning
the battle takes place. Sometimes these engagements
arise out of quarrels regarding women — sometimes out of
old feuds — and frequently, it is said by those well ac
quainted with their custoras, for no other purpose than to
show the activity of the young raen.
In battle, every one appears in a state of nudity. The
breasts, belly, legs, and face, are painted with belts of
white paint, some of the Unes crossing the chest, others
running down the legs as far as the knee.
There are many peculiarities about their customs and
habits with which Europeans are not yet acquainted. The
Corroborie, in particular, has been by some said to be a

65
reUgious cereraony, and by others imputed to different
things ; but I believe it is now pretty well ascertained that
it is merely an amusement. Any description of this cere
mony would give but a very feint idea of what it really is.
Of their other ceremonies but httle is yet known. The
males pass through three different stages, and each of
these is marked by a corresponding ceremony.
The firat stage, from chUdhood to boyhood, takes place
about the age of ten years. It is caUed wilya kundarti,
and consists in the body being covered with blood, drawn
from the arra of an adult. This seems to be introductory
to the second step, which is circuracision, and which is
performed when the person has reached his 13th or 14th
year. When this operation is performed, the head is be
smeared with grease and ochre, and a band tied round it,
in which is fixed a tuft of feathers, and this is worn until
the person has recovered from the effects of the operation.
These cereraonies serve as a kind of initiation into the
privUeges of manhood — ^the person is now perraitted fo
use the wirri and the kadno marngutta (a kind of toy),
and to wear the yudna, or public covering.
The third cereraony is caUed wilgarru, and consists in
tatooing the breast, back, and shoulders. The person
is now supposed to have arrived at manhood, is a warrior,
and aUowed the use of all their weapons and toys, and
permitted to marry. He also receives a girdle of huraan
hair, which he weare round his waist, and which raarks
hira as a man. Amopg some tribes circuracision is not
practised, and a rite is substituted for it, which consists
in besmearing the whole body with grease and red ocher.
Polygamy is permitted among them, though it is but
seldom a man has more than one wife. I have seen some
however, who had two, and some three wives. I ara not

66
aware that there is any ceremony of marriage, although
this, I beUeve, is appUcable only to some tribes. In war,
it is customary for the young men of the victorious side
to possess themselves of the young women of the oppos
ing party, and to raake wives of thera. Should any re
sistance be offered, the conqueror is very uncereraonious,
and does not hesitate to give his intended a knock, any
thing but gentle, with his wirri. He then carries her off
as a trophy of victory, and tke woraan lives peaceably with
him afterwards.
Religion does not seem to exist among them in any
form whatever. They have no conception of a Diety, or
any "Great first cause." StUl there is some kind of
dread entertained respecting spirits, or bad men, which go
abroad at night. Death, in particular, is supposed to be
a man of a short, thick, and ugly appearance, and having
a disagreeable smell. They have no idea of a creation —
they seem to think that sorae things originated of them
selves, and that these had the power of making others, or
of transforming themselves into others. It is said that they
have an indistinct idea of a future state, and iraagine that
after death they shall be transforraed into little birds, and
other shapes. I have also been told, that when they saw
the white people arrive, they imagined that they were the
spirits of their forefathers come back to see the country.
Many ceremonies are used in interring a dead body, and
the bearers of it, in going to the grave, frequently stop,
make a circle round, and then walk on again. What
these relate to, is, I believe, unknown. In some parts of
the country, the dead bodies are deposited in the trees — a
place being formed in a cleft, wherein the body is laid, and
it is then covered over with leaves and green branches.
In other places, the body is placed on a kind of stage.

67
formed of boughs, and after remaining in that position for
a certain time, it is consuraed, along with the stage, by
fire. Other tribes inter the dead bodies in the ground.
They think to counteract the influence of the bad raen
who possess supernatural powers, by charras and other
magic evolutions, for which purpose there are among
them professed sorcerers, called warra-warra. These
persons are also supposed to possess the power of making
rain, thunder, &c., of causing or curing sickness, of en
chanting rivers so as to render the water poisonous, and
have otherwise great influence among the blacks.
Disease they attribute to vermin or sorcery, and the
cure is mostly atterapted by the latter. With them the
medical maxim similia similibus curantur is enter
tained, and they accordingly endeavour to counteract the
effects of magic by applying the same as a cure. Bleeding
is sometimes resorted to, and at other times the pained
parts are submitted to friction, and bathed with cold
water. Their ideas regarding the heavenly bodies are singular,
and pecuhar to themselves. They believe that the sun,
moon, and stars, were at one time inhabitants of this
world, and that they have accidentaUy changed their resi
dence, although they now live in the same state of society
as before. The moon they suppose to be a male, and the
sun his wife. Sorae of the stars are dogs belonging to the
moon. The Pleiades are girls — Orion, boys; the meteoric
lights are supposed to be orphans. The southern Ughts,
they imagine, portend disease; and an eclipse causes death
and destraction.
The language of the aborigines is very diversified
throughout the whole of AustraUa. Almost every tribe
has a dialect peculiar to itself. Tribes living within fifty

68
miles of each other, often cannot hold intercourse together.
A few speciraens of the dialect spoken in the neighbour
hood of Adelaide may not be uninteresting here.
Pronouns — 1st Personal.
SIKGBLAB. DUAL. PLEKAL.
Nom. & Ace. — Ngau, I and me Ngadli, we two Ngadbi, we
2d Person.
N. & Ace. — Ninna, thou, thee Niwa, you two Na, you
3d Person.
N. & Ace— Po, he, she, it P«r/o, they two ParMa.they
The noun substantives form the chief basis, there being
derived from them several other parts of speech, as —
NOUN SDBST. ADJECTIVE. VEBB.
Modo, fog, darkness Madlo madlo, dark, Madlo madlonondi,
foggy to become dark
Kuinya, death Kuinyunna, Kuinyannendi, to die
mortiferous,
The radical part of the verb occurs generally as a
verbal noun, which, by affixing certain particles, is made
into a verb, and forms thus the tenses, raoods, and modi
fications.

Murka, lamentation
Murkandi, lamenting
Murki, lamented
Murketti, have lamented
Murkata, shall lament
Murkananna, haying had lamented
Murka, lament thou

Murkaingwa, lament you two
Murkainga, lament you
Murkanintyerla, that lament
Murkama, had lamented
Murkettoaii, lest lament
Murkatti, do not lament
Murkatitya, to lament

Instead of prefixes they have postfixa and postpositions,
by whieh these relations are expressed, as —
Kurrungga, in the pot

Tandungga, in tbe bag
Worlianna, to the house (going )

jVindaitya, to thee (going) .
Kgattaitya, to me, towards, against
Mutyertilla, in the coat
Pankarrilla, in, upon the territory Yertanna, to the countrj
The numerals consist only of —
Kumandi, one | Marnkutye, a few ; some
Furlaitya, two | Tauata, many
The multiple is expressed by the termination — lukk*,
as —
Eumarlukko, once I Purlarlukko, twice, &c.

69
It will be seen from the foregoing reraarks that the
Australian natives are sunk into a dreadful state of igno
rance. To endeavour to enUghten them and bring them
into a state of civilization, was a matter to which the at
tention of the founders of South Australia was early
directed. For this purpose, as well as to watch
that the whites should raake no aggressions on them,
a person was appointed and paid by government to attend
solely to the aborigines. In endeavouring, however, to
make them foraake the customs or traditions of their
forefathers, many difficulties stand in the way. Their indo
lent habits are deeply rooted. As they have been accus
toraed hitherto to obtain a living without rauch bodily
exertion, they do not relish the plan of digging in the
ground to raise food. Many of them will carry wood or
water, or perform other little jobs for the settlers, for a
piece of bread or a copper coin ; but they act as their
own masters, are very independent, and leave off whenever
they feel inclined. One or two have of late been induced
to remain about the premises of the settlers, and have
been found of considerable use ; but they cannot be trust
ed to remain. I had a very active boy with me for some
time, who, when he choose, could work well, but took
lazy fits at tiraes. I had him dressed in cast-off clothes,
and he used to strat about and call hiraself by ray narae ;
but when his companions were going out on a hunting
expedition, he would take himself off, sometiraes telling
me he was going, at other times taking French leave. In
two or three days he would make his appearance again in
a state of nudity. Thus, however well they may be
treated and fed, they always retain a longing after their
uncontrolled life in the Bush ; and some of the natives
of New South Wales, who have for years lived among

70
the whites and become civilized, have at last taken them
selves to the woods and becorae wilder than ever.
It seems, therefore, to be almost useless to endeavour
to reclaim the grown-up part of the black population.
The only mode which is likely to be snccessful, is to at
tend to the children, and separate them as much as possi
ble from the adults, and thus prevent them from learning
their habits. This seeras to present the only means of
reclaiming them from their savage state. The following
extract from the report of the protector of the aborigines,
made up at the close of the year 1842, will show what
progress has been raade in this respect : —
" The first step taken towards their improvement was, f o acquire
a knowledge of their language, so as to gain an insight into their
character, habits, laws, and prejudices. The next step was to in
duce them, by example and persuasion, to adopt regular emplojr
ment, and to erect fixed and more substantial habitations, in the
neighbourhood of which land for cultivation was apportioned ; and
the success has been as follows :~They haye assisted in erecting
five cottages, and a sixth has been erected with but very little aid
from Europeans. In 1^39 and 1840 they had one acre of ground
under cultivation, and at the present time they have a plot of
ground (three acres) cultivated by themselves, upon which potatoes,
carrots, maize, and melons are now growing.
<' As the language became more generaUy known, and facilities
afforded to conversation, they were sppken to from time to time
upon moral and religious subjects. On the 23d of December, 1839,
a school for the children was commenced, and since that period they
have been assembled as regularly as practicable. In 1840, they
were assembled two hundred and eighty-six days, and out of forty.
one children that were in Adelaide, the average sohool attendance
was eleven daily. In 1841, from January 1st to June 30th, the
average attendance was nineteen daily. At the end of June 1841
there were fourteen that knew the alphabet, thirteen that could
read monysyllables, ten polysyllables, and write upon the slate or
paper ; six knew the rule of addition, and two that of multiplication.
Since the 2d of March, the girls have received sewing lessons from a
number of ladies, chiefly Wesleyans, who felt interested in the im.

71
provement of these people. The progress made under the tuition
of these zealous ladies has been satisfactory and encouraging.
Eight of tho children are able to repeat the commandments, and
narrate the history of the creation, fall of our first parents, Cain's
fratricide, the deluge, portions of early Jewish history, the advent
of our Lord, several of his miracles, the doctrine of resurrection
and final judgment.
"The adults are much more inaccessible for religious instruc
tion than the children ; they are naturaUy proud and wise in their
own estimation, and express themselves perfectly satisfied with the
traditions of their forefathers. They can scarcely be induced to
accompany the children to the preaching of the Gospel on the Sab
bath ; on some Sabbaths a few attend, whilst on others not a single
adult, male or female, appears. Out of the first twenty-six Sab
baths of this year, they have been assembled twelve, and the average
attendance has been twenty-three adults."'
It becomes a matter of much importance to ascertain
the disposition of the aborigines of a new Colony, whether
friendly or otherwise to the Settlers. Most of the Colo
nies founded by Britain and other European powers have
been marked by bloodshed. The native inhabitants of
the country were generally of a ferocious character, and in
too many instances, their naturally fierce and warlike dis
position was aggravated by oppression or inroads by the
whites. Collisions thus occurred, and many of the Bri
tish Colonies have been founded and maintained at a great
sacrifice of huraan Ufe, or the extirpation of the original
inhabitants. In this respect. South Australia forms a
favourable exception. It is true, colUsions have taken
place occasionally between the blacks and whites, and lives
have been lost on both sides ; but these have been mostly-
isolated cases, and have never been followed by any gene
ral outbreak, nor is there any danger to fear that such
will be the case in future. The disposition of the natives
• In his labours amongthe aborigines, the Protector is effectively
assisted by two German missionaries who were sent out from
Dresden.

72
in and around Adelaide, is decidedly friendly to the Set
tlers, and so long as government exercises a strict surveil
lance over all inroads upon their rights, or aggressions on
their persons, there is no danger that disturbances will
arise. The tribes in the interior are not always so friendly
disposed. Conflicts between overland parlies and some
of these tribes have frequently occurred, although the ob
ject of the latter seemed to be a desire to obtain possession
of the stock, rather than to take the lives of the party.
Where they could not otherwise obtain their desire, they
did not hesitate, however, to take human life. Even
within the settled districts, several instances have
occurred of murders having been committed by the blacks
whUe endeavouring to possess themselves of the property
of the Settlers. Such instances have been visited with
prompt punishment by government, and means taken to
explain to the blacks that every instance of aggression,
either in the lives or property of the whites, would be
severely punished. In 1839, two black men were execut
ed for the murder of two EngUsh shepherds. The execu
tion produced a strong impression on the minds of the
other blacks, and since that time there has been no life
taken by them in the neighbourhood of the capital. Dur
ing the two following years, 1840-41, two natives were
charged with atterapts at murder, but discharged by the
Supreme Court. During the same period nineteen others
were charged with minor offences, as stealing potatoes,
raelons, &c., and assault. Seven of these were sentenced
to imprisonment for periods of one to four weeks ; the
others were acquitted.
The tribes inhabiting the country around Adelaide, and
all to the southward and eastward as far as the Murray,
are known to the Settlers, and live amicably among them.

73
There is a tribe to the north which has yet had but little
intercourae with the whites, and the squatters at the out-
stations are sometimes Uable to inroads from them, and
occasionaUy a few sheep have been carried off. As they
becorae more acquainted with the Settlers, and are made
aware of the punishraent which foUows crime, it is proba
ble that they will become as peaceable as the others.
The " Adelaide Tribe" generally take up their quar
ters on the park land adjoining the river, and some of
thera are always to be seen about the streets of the town.
On the Queen's birth-day the whole of the neighbouring
tribes are assembled at government house, and feasted on
roast beef and pudding ; while blankets and various articles
of dress are distributed among thera. The governor
usuaUy addresses them through the interpreter on such
occasions, and in this raanner a friendly intercourse is
always kept up.
[Note.— In the foregoing chapter I have introduced the sub
stance, and in a few instances, the words, ofa report made and pub
lished in the Colony by the Protector of the Aborigines, and the
German missionaries, who being in daily intercourse with the
natiyes, have, of course, better opportunities of becoming acquaint
ed with their character, habits, and customs, than any other indivi
duals. For the short specimens of their language, and a considerable
portion of that which relates to their customs, &c., I am indebted
to that report. ]

G 5

74

CHAP. V.
PRODUCTIVE CAPABILITIES OF THE COLONY-
PROGRESS OP AGRICULTURE, &c.

" Then all around was heard the crash of trees —
Trembling a while, then rushing to the ground —
The low of ox, and shouts of men who fired
The brushwood — or who tore the earth with ploughs ; —
The grain sprang thick and tall, and hid in green
The blackened hill side — ranks of spiky maize
Rose like a host embattled — the buck wheat
Whitened broad acres, scenting with its flowers—
The Autumn winds."

I CAN scarcely iraagine a more interesting scene than to
observe a country in the course of being rescued from a
state of nature — than to see the trackless desert trans
formed into cattle mns and corn fields — and although the
emigrant who ventures into the wilds has much hard work
to encaiinter, and many privations and hardships to under
go, yet the novel and interesting position in which he is
placed, corabined with a certain looking forward to some
thing better, assist materially in keeping up his spirits, and
encouraging him to persevere. And when he has once
surmounted the difficulties of a firet settleraent, he usually
finds himself well repaid for what sufferings he may have
endured. The forest gives way to his axe — his flocks
and herds increase rapidly — and he sees growing up
around him, not only an abundance, but a superfluity, of
the " good things of this life."
In wandering about through various parts of South
Australia, soon after ray arrival in that Colony, when man
had not yet begun to wield the axe or follow the plough,
often did I muse on what a field was presented for labour

75
and industry ; and on visiting the same places a year or
two after, I have, in many cases, found the scene so
changed, as to be barely recognisable. The grass, which
then sprung only to wither and rot, is now cropped by
flocks of sheep and herds of cattle — plots of the beautiful
green sward have been torn up by the plough, and are
seen covered with crops of waving grain — ^the original
quiet solitude is disturbed by the merry ring of the
blacksmith's anvil and the carpenter's hammer — ^the uni
formity of the far stretching plains is reUeved by scattered
cottages of the Settlers — and the ever-green but dreary
forests, which then only echoed to the howl of the wild
dog, the screech of the paroquet, or the yell of the savage,
now resound with the bark of the shepherd's dog, the
bleating of sheep, and the lowing of cattle.
In this raanner I have witnessed the greater portion
of the settled districts of South AustraUa colonised. I
have seen the plains and forests around Adelaide changed
frora their original desolation into a continued mass of
farms — some thousands of acres bearing their first crops
of wheat, maize, and barley — while the more distant parts,
in which uor track nor trace of human being could be
found when I first rode through them, I ultimately saw
sprinkled with sheep and cattle stations, with occasion
ally a field of com.
When I arrived in the Colony in March, 1839, culti
vation of the soil (beyond gardens, and a few patches of
wheat and maize), had not been attempted. The first
selection of country lands having been delayed until May,
1838, and the seed-time being May and June — previous
to which the land had to be fenced in and tilled — 1839-40
was, of necessity, the first available season. During that
season a sufficient amount of surface was got under crop

76
to test the capabilities of the soil, which, up to this time,
were unknown. The result proved satisfactory; and emi
grants continuing to arrive from England and Scotland
in large numbers, and surveyed land being now plentiM,
during the succeeding season of 1840-41 agricultural
operations were prosecuted with considerable vigour — so
much so, that the quantity of land placed under cultivation
amounted to nearly 3000 acres.
A fair coraraenceraent being thus made, the farmers,
encouraged by what experience they had obtained, pro
ceeded with so much spirit, that in the third season —
namely, that of 1841-42, the quantity of land under bear
ing was nearly trebled — no less than 8168 acres having
been laid under crops of wheat, barley, oats, raaize, and
potatoes, as shown in the following table, which com
prises an account of the several rural districts, with the
particulars of the cropped lands in each : —

Districts.

Adelaide  ,
Northern Districts....
Parra River 
Mount Barker 
Strathalbyn 
Encounter Bay 
Willunga 
Morphett Vale 
M'Laren Vale 
Port Lincoln 

Total  4108

Acres.

2091 324274514 5597
43
469 192 49

Acres.

589 26
7265 15
28 6
6538 4

898

O
Acres.

300 32
42
69 4
13 2
20 17 4

503

Acres

353 4060
82 3
37 8
93
4620

732

Acres.

153 19
57
106 14
22 4
32 24
25

456

.2.S c
S'S b

Acres.

157 21
41
100 6 5
2
39 7
27
405

At the moment I write, the results of the season
1842-43 are not known in this country; but from ob
servations made previous to my departure from the Col-

77

ony, which are borne out by inteUigence received since, I
feel assured that there would be an increase of at least
50 per cent, on the previous year, and that the breadth of
land under grain would amount to not less than 12,000
acres, which, if the season was fevonrable in an ordinary
degree, would yield suppUes of food beyond what would
be required for horae consuraption. The latest advices
from the Colony contains favourable accounts as to the
prospects of the harvest, and speak confidently of an ex
port of grain taking place.
The rapid progress of agriculture during the years
1839, 1840, and 1841, wUl be best understood by a refer
ence to the following table, showing the quantity of land
brought under cultivation, each year, from the commence
ment of the Colony : —

Wheat (acres) 
Barley do 
Oats do 
Maize do 
Potatoes do 
Crops not specified..
Gardens 

Totals,.

1837.

1838.

1839.

1840.

I84I.

20

120

915

4723

1

28

258

1032

• *¦

5

30

246

578

i

10

60

71

847

^

20

75

227

528

"6

25

70
6<y

97) 1
135 J ¦

460

n

81

443

2823

8168

I have already raentioned, that a great portion of the
vallies and of the undulating country in South Australia
consists of a deep black mould, and in other places of a
reddish soil. This is all of the richest description, being
mostly coraposed of a deposit of vegetable matter, formed
by the withering of successive crops of rank grass, or by
the residuum of the grass when it has been burnt. In
the sumraer season the natives often fire the grass, in
order to facilitate their hunting operations, and thus many.
miles, both of the mountains and valhes, are yearly sub-

78
jected to these conflag;rations. The burnt matter thus
accumulated for many years, nay centuries probably, and
augmented by the washings from the hiUs in the winter
raonths, has formed a rich alluvial deposit, in many
places some feet in depth. This soil is very strong, and
capable of producing almost any description of crop.
Other parts of the country, especially the plains, such as
those around Adelaide, are composed, as I already raen
tioned, of a sandy loam, which though not so rich as the
black soil, yet bears good crops, and is fully as well fitted
for some kinds of grain as the richer part^
The plains of Adelaide were at one time termed by
many parties barren ; indeed, a famed Australian explorer
gave it as his opinion that they would not produce crops.
This idea, however, was soon proved to be fallacious, by
the most incontestible evidence ; and I presurae even the
gentleraan raentioned has seen reason to change his
opinion, as he is now occupying a farm on those very
plains, and is earnestly prosecuting the cultivation of its
soil with success.
Having premised thus much regarding the progress of
agriculture and the nature of the soil, I may now proceed
to describe the Australian mode of cultivation, and enu
merate the various crops grown in the Colony.
Having obtained a section, or sections, of land, the first
step taken by the Settler preparatory to cultivation, is to
fence it, or so rauch of it as his raeans or inclination may
permit. The most comraon raode of fencing is with posts
and rails — that is, strong upright posts, having two, three,
or four horizontal rails morticed into the uprights. These
are made of split stringy bark, or gum wood. Many
sections will supply a sufficient quantity of timber for
fencing purposes ; where such is not the case, the nearest

79
hills will generally be found to contain an abundance-,
which the Settler has only to cut and carry away. Sorae
parties construct rough fences with branches of trees, hav
ing the ends stuck in the ground, and forming a kind of
chevaux de frise. Another plan frequently adopted, is
to dig a trench or ditch round the field, forming a bank
ofthe earth; and, in sorae cases, a single raU is run round
the top of the bank. This description of fence effectually
protects the crops from the suramer fires, by which por
tions of unprotected crops are sometiraes destroyed.
The cost of fencing varies according to the kind of fence
adopted, the facility with which timber is obtained, &c.
The next step is " clearing," if necessary ; but in a
great many cases this is not requisite — the land being
naturally clear of timber, and ready for the plough as soon
as it is fenced. Where this is not the case, the clearing
will probably go on siraultaneously with the fencing, the
trees being cut up for posts and rails. Digging the trees
up by the root is the only effectual mode of clearing ; but
if there is not tirae for this, the trees are cut and burnt,
or removed for fuel, allowing the roots to remain until
after the firet harvest, when more time can be afforded to
get them out. In some instances the vitality of the trees
is merely destroyed by making an incision through the
bark aU round ; but the sooner they are wholly removed,
with the principal roots, the better.
Ploughing is the next step. Bullocks are almost uni
versally used for this and other purposes of draught ; and
the common Scotch plough is the favourite. In ordi
nary soils four bullocks are put to the plough. Besides
the ploughraan, a boy is required to drive the bullocks.
Oxen are much easier and cheaper to keep than horses,
as they are invariably turned out to feed at night when
unyoked, and brought in again in the morning. Their

80
keep thus costs actuaUy nothing. They may not do so
much work as horses, however, but for breaking up land
they are invariably preferred. For other draught pur
poses they are also infinitely superior to horses, especially
in the country, where roads are scarce or bad. Bullocks
wUl proceed with their dray through woods, over hills,
and through the wildest country, where horses would
be useless, or where they would destroy the dray, and
probably endanger tiheir own Uves.
In breaking up the soU for the first time, it is generally
tilled, if practicable, the season before the seed is sown,
and allowed to reraain fellow until the ensuing spring,
when a cross ploughing is found to ensure a good crop.
It has been found that the soil never produces well the
first season, if only once turned up. I have seen many
instances where on a onee tilled soil the crop was almost
a coraplete failure ; but the second and succeeding crops
produced abundantly. Ploughing is coramenced as soon
after the heat of summer is over as possible, and con
tinued for the various crops throughout the rainy season.
Wheat, .as in raost other countries, is the most impor
tant crop. It is sown in the end of April, and during
May and June. If later than June, it is apt to be caught
and blighted by the hot winds ere it reaches maturity.
Barley is sown about the same lime, or soon after
the wheat. Oats are not cultivated to any extent, except
to be cut green as food for horses. Although the cUmate
and soil are well adapted for the growth of wheat and
barley, it does not appear that oats wiU thrive well in
most parts of the Colony, and therefore their cultivation
is less attended to. I have seen extraordinary crops
of oat straw, but the grain does not come to such per
fection as it does in colder climes.
In September and October the maize or Indian corn is

81
planted, and grows during summer. Potatoes are planted
in the low country during June and July ; and in the
upland districts at various times. Indeed, I beUeve, this
vftluable root may be planted at alraost any period through
out the year when rain falls. I have seen two crops of
potatoes grown on the same land between August and
March. The harvest commences in the end of November, and
extends through all December. Wheat and barley ripen
very rapidly, and the cUmate being so dry, they require to
be promptly reaped, and are generally ready to be stacked
almost as soon as cut. The maize harvest does not come
on until March. The summer crops of potatoes are
gathered in April — the winter crops in November and
Deceraber. Wheat, in most soils and situations, produces heavy
crops. Fifty bushels, or upwards of six quarters, have
frequently been reaped per acre. This is, however, far
above the average, which ranges from 25 to 30 bushels
per acre.
South Australian wheat is of fine quality, and weighs
on the average rather more than that produced in Eng
land or Scotland. The bread made from it is very fine,
and indeed the bakers generally mix with the flour a por
tion of Van Diemen's Land or Indian flour. The biscuit
used on board the ship in which I came to this country, was
baked in Adelaide, of South Australian flour, and it was
pronounced by every one on board to be superior to any
sea biscuit they had seen before.
" Smut '' and " blight " are of frequent occurrence in
the wheat crops ; the former is generally caused I believe
by the bad quality of the seed ; the latter by the hot winds
touching the grain while in blossom.

82
Conflicting opinions exist regarding the prevention of
smut — some steep the seed in Ume water — others in a
solution of bluestone. Mr. John Beynell, an intelligent
farmer, about twelve miles sonth of Adelaide^ who rests
his opinion on an experience of four years, difring which
he has had crops of wheat, states, that he would have no
hesitation in guaranteeing any crop against smut, pro
vided the seed is weU washed in fresh water, and then
steeped for a night in a solutioB of bluestone, using one
pound to four or five gaUons of water. He also remarks :
— " Sundry opinions are held as to late sowing, &e. &c.,
augmenting smut. There is no doubt that, where the
seed has not been very efficaciously dressed, bad tillage,
late sowing, a bad season, or any circumstance which has
a tendency to weaken the plant, does render it more Uable
to smut, as animals are more susceptible of disease when
the geueral health is low ; but the fungus will, I beheve,
under no circumstances, attaeh itself to seed that has been
dressed with bluestone."
Blight is guarded against chiefly by early sowing, as I
have already mentioned. RolUng the land after sowing is
found useful, as it prevents the heat from taking sucb
effect on the roots of the plants. Wheat sown in April
or May has little, however, to fear frora blight by the hot
winds. The principal wheat-growing districts at present are
the reed beds, a track of very superior land lying betweeii
Adelaide and St. Vincent's Gulf; the land adjoining
the Banks of the Torrens ; and indeed the whole country
for some miles around the capital in every direction. The
proximity to the Adelaide market is an advantage to the
Settlers in that locality. In the south. Hurtle Vale,
Morphett Vale, and M'Laren Vale, are the sites of numer-

83
ous farms, on nearly aU of Which agriculture is carried on
on a greater or lesser scale. The Mount Barker district
possesses great advantages ^ an agricultural district, and
though an extensive range of hUls intervenes between it
and Adelaide, a good road across has now been constmcted,
and the capabilities of that part will receive fair play.
The Parra River and other districts to the north are all
likewise the scenes of agricultural operations. Indeed the
whole of the country presents inducements nearly equal to
the agriculturist. The proximity to a market is the only
circumstance which causes the neighbourhood of the capi
tal to he 1^ principal agricultural district.
Very fine crops of harley are produced, averaging, in
ordinary soils and seasons, from thirty to forty bushels per
acre. It is cultivated to a larger extent than any other
grain — ^wheat excepted. It will now supersede the use
of sugar in distillation | but should governftient carry out
a plan proposed some .time ago ,to prohibit internal distil
lation, er &t least <to iimpose such restrictions as would
almost amount to a prohibition, the cultivation of barley
cannot be carried to any great extent. It Is to be hoped,
however, that the English government wUl not sanction
so short-sighted a measure as bne for the prevention of
distiUation in the Colony, which would act as a direct
check on xtgricaLtural industry, and render the Colonists
under the necessity of importing from abroad that which
might be manufactured from grain xA their own growing.
Maize flourishes best on a heavy and rather damp soil.
In such situations the produce of an acre not unfrequently
amounts to sixty and even eighty bushels of grain. This
grain requires a good deal of attention in hoeing, earthing
up, &c.
Maize Is frequently planted as the first crop oa newly

84

broken up soil. Sometimes it is planted indeed without the
soU being disturbed — holes being merely made in the
grass at distances of three or four feet, and the seed
dropped in and allowed to take its chance. In this way
good crops are sometimes got, but in other Instances they
have entirely failed. It seems absohitely necessary, in
order to obtain a good crop of any grain, to plough or dig
the land weU. I may mention a striking instance of this
that I once observed on a farm belonging to Messrs Boord,
on the banks of the Torrens. They had a flat of excel
lent land by the river side just cleared of trees, and not
having time to plough It, they planted a crop of maize in
holes dug among the grass. In some spots where trees
had been rooted out and the soil disturbed, the seed
sprung up, and the steras grew to a great size, and pro
duced abundantly ; but the plants among the grass were
miserable sickly dwarfs, some of them not more than six
inches high, and they never produced a single grain of
corn. Mr. M'Arthur's remark — that though in no country
In the world was nature more bountiful than in Australia,
yet nowhere was the wise ordination of Providence, that
what is most desired is only to be got by labour, more
raanifest — could have no iUustration more apt than that
mentioned. The produce of the potato crop depends materially on
the situation, season, and weather. I have known instan
ces of very fine crops having been raised in one locality
while In another, though the seed was planted at the sanie
time, there was almost a total failure. Much likewise de
pends on the seed, the mode of planting, &c., regarding
which experience wiU be the best raonitor.
The raildness of the chmate and the continued supply
of grass throughout the year, render the cultivation of any

85
artificial food for cattle unnecessary. Turnips are only
grown In the gardens for doraestic use. EngUsh grasses
have not yet been introduced, except on a very sraall
scale, and though their culture would be of consequence,
yet there is an abundant supply of natural grass at pre
sent. The horaes kept in town are fed on hay of the
natural grass, or on that made of oat straw..
I may now advert to the raore hurable, though not
less useful, kinds of food — such as vegetables, fruits, &c.
In the winter season, every kind of vegetable known In
England, and many which are unknown, flourish most
luxuriantly in South Australia. Cabbages, cauliflowers,
lettuces, spinach, peas, parsnips, turnips, carrots, rad-
dishes, leeks, onions, &c. &c., grow much more rapidly
than in England, and are consequently raore tender.
There are also many vegetables unknown, or almost
unknown, in Britain, such as the tomato, the egg plant,
capsicum, Cramhe Maritima (sea-kale), the artichoke,
cardoon, Beta clcla, or sUver beet, &c. &c. In summer
the heat Is generaUy too great for these sorts, except in
moist shady situations, or where irrigation is practicable,
but other vegetables adapted to a warra cliraate are then
cultivated, such as the French bean, the Garavanzos,
pumpkin, gourd, vegetable marrow, &c.
In fruits. South Australia cannot be expected as yet
to be profuse. Time has not been afforded for the trees
to arrive at maturity, but there is a bright prospect for
the future. Even before I left the Colony, grapes,
peaches, and figs, were selling In the market in small
quantities. Melons of every description — than which a
more delicious fruit could scarely be found in a warm
country — are produced in Imraense quantities, and of the
richest flavour. Melons are in season from January till
H 5

86
April and May, and may be bought from 2d. each, up
wards. I have seen water melons weighing from forty
to sixty pounds. The fig, orange, lemon, citron, olive,
pomegranate, apple, pear, plum, cherry, quince, and med
lar, &c., are all thriving well in South AustraUa, and in
a year or two their fruit will be plentiful. Indeed, there
is scarcely any fruit, except what is strictly tropical, but
will flourish in the open air; and even some tropical
fruits are thriving, though it cannot be said that they
are likely to arrive at perfection. I have, however,
seen growing, In the sarae garden, the stately banana of
the tropics, and the scraggy gooseberry of the colder
regions. I have seen the vine, the orange, the olive,
and the fig, flourishing in the greatest luxuriance, in the
immediate vicinity of the apple, pear, and cherry.
The testimony of Mr. George Stevenson, a gentleman
who went to the Colony in 1836, and who has devoted
a great portion of his time and means to the cultivation
of an extensive garden and orchard, gives very strong
testimony in confirmation of these remarks. He says: —
" Araong the useful and exportable fruits, the fig,
almond, and olive, may be mentioned as growing with
surpassing luxuriance. The two former have already
produced fruit abundantly, and the few olives In the
Colony indicate as near an approach to the bearing state
as trees of their age (under five years) could be expected.
In sheltered and favourable localities, the orange tribe
will succeed. The plantain and pomegranate have also
fruited, and, In suitable spots, will no doubt flourish,
although I doubt if the former wIU ever attain here Its
true tropical magnificence.
" The sugar cane has been introduced, and is growing
with great vigour ; but for coffee,,rice, or for the spice

87
tribe generally, there is not sufficient or long continued
warmth. "All varieties of the ordinary Persian or European
stone fruits, have given satisfactory evidence of their
fitness for the Colony. Even the comraon gooseberry,
strawberry, and raspberry, thrive — nay, produce respect
ably on the 'hot and barren plains of Adelaide;' and were
they reraoved to the raore congenial district of Mount
Barker, I have no doubt they would yield as abundantly
as in their native climate."
But the most Important fruit to which the attention
of the South Australian Settlers has been directed Is
the Vine. Not only as yielding a luxury for home con
sumption, but as an article of coinmercial importance,
this ranks first; and, from the very energetic measures
used to introduce vine cuttings on an extensive scale into
the Colony, it is evident the Settlers are perfectly aware
of its iraportance, and intend to prosecute its cultivation.
For myself, I can only speak of what I have seen, and
can hardly pretend to offer an opinion as to the suitable
ness of South AustraUa as a wine country. But as to
the growth of the vine, I had almost weekly opportuni
ties of observing Its progress in South Australia, and
can say thereupon, that its growth was most astonishing.
In this I do not mean In wood alone, but In producing
frait. It generaUy takes five years before a cutting
arrives at maturity to bear fruit; but I have seen In
Adelaide cuttings of the second and third year bearing
bunches of grapes. If I raight judge by what I have
seen of the growth and produce of the vine at the Cape
of Good Hope, the Cape Verd Islands, &c., I should
have no hesitation in saying, that South Australia seems
better fitted to produce good wine than any of these

88
places. And in this opinion I am borne out by many
parties who have lived in France and Germany, who un
hesitatingly state their conviction, that South Austraha
must eventually become a wine producing country. It is
dangerous, however, to interfere much with opinions, and
it wIU be better to await the result of the present season,
when experiments will be made to ascertain what quality
of wine the grapes already in bearing will produce. Much,
no doubt, will depend on the quality of the cuttings, and
on the mode of culture. There are several practical vine
dressers in the Colony, and every effort Is made to diffuse
useful Information among the Settlera on this important
subject. Many thousands of cuttings have also been in
troduced from New South Wales, the Cape, South Ame
rica, and other places. The Importation of a few good
French and German vine dressers would be a great boon
to the Colony and the Colonists.
Other fruits of commercial importance, as the orange,
fig, olive, alraond, &c., I have already said, grow luxu
riantly. The olive and orange take some yeare to come
to bearing, but the % and almond are already producing
abundantly. The .tobacco plant has been introduced and successfully
cultivated. Whether it will be of a good quality or not
cannot as yet be said. In New South Wales tobacco
is largely cultivated, but used mostly as sheep wash 
whether South Austraha will produce it in greater per
fection remains to be seen.
The castor oil plant grows luxuriantly In the Colony,
but has never been put to any use. It is sometimes
planted as an ornaraent, but grows and Spreads so rapidly,
that It often becomes a nuisance.
Experiraents have also been raade with the cotton

89

plant, sugar cane, indigo, and other valuable plants, and
I have no doubt but these, and even the tea plant, could
be successfully raised. These are raatters of a question
able nature, however, and It would not be proper to
dweU on thera here. Should It be found that the soil
and chmate are suited to the tea plant, it would be a
matter of great Importance for the EngUsh Government
to facihtate the settleraent of Chinese Eraigrants In the
Australian Colonies. Thousands of Chinese would be
glad to emigrate frora China, Batavia, and other places
In the East. There are several In South Australia al
ready, settled chiefly as carpenters, but being aliens, they
are not adraitted to any privileges.
I have, by accident, in my possession, a Ust of nearly
aU the trees, shrubs, and plants, which have been natur
alized in South Australia, which will come In as a good
prefix to this chapter. It was prepared by an intelUgent
gardener from Scotland — a Mr. M'Ewen, gardener to
Mr. Stevenson, whom I have already mentioned.
CATALOGUE OF PLANTS GROWING IN THE GARDEN
OF GEO. STEVENSON, ESQ.
Hardt FeuitTkees, Shbubs,
AND PliANTS.
Apple, 6 varieties.
Pear, 7 varieties.
Quince, mild or eatable variety.
Medlar, Nottingham medlar.
Loquat.Rose Apple.
Kakii.White Guava.
Cherimoyer.Chinese Jujube.
Grandadilla.
Orange, 6 varieties.
Citron.
Lime. Shaddock.
Lemon. Osage Orange.

Pomegranate.Oliye, 4 varieties.
Peach, 10 varieties.
Nectarine, 3 varieties.
Apricot, 7 varieties.
Almond, 2 varieties.
Plum, 6 vorities.
Cherry, 6 varieties.
New Zealand Plum.
Date Plum.
Grape Vine. — Upwards of 75
varieties, including many of
the best French and other
descriptions.
Fig, 4 varieties.
Prickly Pear, several varieties.
Melon, many varieties.
Water Melon, do.
Cucumber, do.

90

Gooseberry, three varieties.
Black Currant.
Bed Currant.
White Currant.
Mulberry,Eldsr.Raspberry, 2 kinds.
Strawbetry, 3 kinds.
Cape Gooseberry.
Pine Apple,* 4 varieties.
Banana.Plantain. Wahiut,
Filbert.
Habdt Obnahentai, Tbebs.
Araucaria, three varieties of
Pine.
Plane Tree, Oriental.
Willow, 2 varieties.
Lime Tree,
Laburnum. Scotch do.
Common Ash.
Hawthorn. Cassia.
Spindle Tree,
Flg Tree, Indian Rubber.
Habdy Obnauentai. Shbubs,
Myrtl«. Als^ice,
Hibiscus, 6 varieties,
Kerria, Stork's Bill, 6 varieties.
Fuschias, 2 varieties.
Lilac, 2 varieties.
Cherry Tree, common Liiurel,
Magnolia, Coral Tree, Laurel leaved,
Rosebay, splendid.
Arbor Vitse, China,
Swallow Wort,
Agave, 3 varieties.
Aloe, soap,
Zamia,Rag Wort,
Thorn Apple.
Privet,Wormwood.
Bose, upwards of 30 varieties.
Box Tree,
Bladder Senna,

Medlick.Hydrangea. Opuntia, 2 Varieties,
Crassula.Cereus, 3 varieties,
Epiphylluni, 5 varieties,
Stapelea.
Hea.th, 17 varieties.
Habdt Obnamentai. Climb
ing Shbubs,
Rose, 6 varieties,
Lopfaospernium.Passion Flower.
Trumpet Flower, 4 varieties.
Jasmine. Ivy. Honeysuckle.Bramble. Dolichos.
HAKDr Sebbaceous Plants.
Sugar Cane.
Reed Grass.'
Indian Shot.
Chrysanthemum, S varieties.
Snap Dragon, 3 varieties.
Marsh Msdlow.
Pink, several varieties.
Fenstemon, Scabious. Garland Flower.
Day Lily,
Marvel of Peru.
Dahlia, varieties.
Crow Foot,
Anemone,Primrose,
Tulip.Hyacinth.
Narcissus, fiutijdus Planis,
Amal'yilis, varieties,
Anomatheca.
Babiana, Bruns Vigia.
Ferraria.Sword Lily, 4 varieties
Blood Flower.
txia, 5 varieties.
Lily, varieties.
Nerine,
Wood Sorrell,

• The Pine Apple is the only pUot which has received proteotion,
and It 18 simply treated ss a green-house plant.

91

star of Bethlem,
Tuberose.Sponoxis, 3 varieties.
Tritonia,
Watsonia, 3 varieties,
Habdt Annuals— of various
kinds.
Pot Hebbs and Gabnishinqs,
Parsley,
Scurvy Grass.
Ginger.
Indian Cress.
Morygold. Sweet Hebbs.
Thyme. Sage.Mint. JMajoram.Savory,
Basil,

Rosemary. Lavender. Plants used as Pbeserves
AND FicELXS,
Love Apple.
Capsicum. Plants used in Tabts and
Medicines.
Rhubarb. Gourd.
Pumpkin.
Vegetable Marrow,
Carowsy.
Hysop. Balm, BscuLENT Boots,
Tam, Sunilower.
Jerusalem Artichoke.

Experience ha^ thus fuUy proved that the cUmate and
soil of South Australia are amply quaUfied to yield every
kind of vegetable food that man requires, besides many
luxuries which even this favoured eountry does not pro
duce. Intimately connected with the prt^ress of agricultural
pursuits, is the opening of roads affording facUities for
transporting the produce of the soil to a market. Al
though in a young Colony like South AustraUa, extend
ing over a great surface of country, it cannot be supposed
that anything like regular roads have been made, yet
there is no district of the Colony which is not of easy ac
cess. In this respect nature has done mueh. A great
proportion of the roads into the interior are formed
by the natural soil, and in this condition, except in the
midst of the rainy season, they are good, and the
traffic on them easily carried on. In such places as natu
ral difficulties occurred, a considerable amount of labour
was expended by order of Governor Gawler, during his
administration. In some places roads have been cut

92
through scmb, in others abrapt hills have heen cut
through, or a road forraed so as to avoid the worst part.
Bridges have been erected over rivers, creeks, and gulhes,
&c. In this respect Governor Gawler did much for the
Colony, and without inflicting any burdens, as the labour
employed by him has been all paid by the English govern
ment. A road has been surveyed and made practicable from
Adelaide through the whole of the southern districts as far
as Encounter Bay. For the first twenty raUes this road
has required little labour. At the Sturt River, six railes
south from Adelaide, a bridge has been erected, and the
road cut and macadamized for some distance on either side.
At Onkaparinga, fifteen miles farther south, a substantial
wooden bridge, 100 feet in span, is erected across the river,
and a good road formed up the hill for some distance.
At Willunga, seven miles farther to the south, the moun
tain ranges have to be surmounted, and several cuts have
been made to relieve the steepness of the ascent. A
branch leaves the main road two railes south of WUlunga,
and leads along the sea coast through the vaUeys of Mi
ponga, Curracuilnga, and Karrapootungah, until it reaches
YankaUUa. This branch opens the whole of the country
to the south as far as Cape Jervis. In laying it out,
a considerable amount of clearing was necessary, and
twenty-five creeks and water-courses had bridges thrown
over them.
The main road is continued to the southward, through
^e scrabby moor country raentioned in Chap. IL, and in
some places the dense scmb had to be cut ere a practic
able track for drays could be got. It leads ultiraately
to Encounter Bay, a branch striking off to the eastward
to Currency Creek. The whole of the southern districts.

93
stretching for sixty raUes, have thus easy access to the
capital. The hills intervening between the town and the dis
tricts of Mount Barker, Strathalbyn, and the Murray,
presented great difficulties against the formation of a good
practicable road to the East. For some years the Mount
Lofty Range, which rises to the height of 3000 feet
above the level of the sea, was crossed by a rough track
made by the drays. In sorae places very steep hiUs had
to be ascended, deep ravines crossed, and the transport
of goods across the ranges was neither easy nor free of
danger. The fine country lying to the eastward, how
ever, soon drew raany Settlers In that direction, and
Govemraent found it necessary to raake exertions, to
discover. If possible, -a better route for a road, and to
raake such improvements as might be necessary. After
Investigation, a good route was discovered, and operations
commenced. Much labour was necessary In forming the
road, as the line surveyed led sometimes up a ravine, some
times along the face of a hill, so that retaining walls had
to be built, excavations made, and bridges erected. This
work was in course of rapid progress when Governor
Gawler was removed frora office, and his successor either
had not the means or the IncUnation to carry It through.
This was a great disappointment to the Settlers beyond
the ranges, and having consulted together, they agreed
that, rather than have the work abandoned, they would
advance the requisite funds, provided Government would
authorise them to levy a toll to pay the interest. This
was agreed to, and a bUl was passed, and trustees ap
pointed, under whom the work was carried on; and
part of the road — namely, the ascent to the top of the
ranges frorathe Adelaide side — was completed and thrown

94
bpen to the public In 1841, a toll having been erected,
and a charge levied on all vehicles, cattle, sheep, &c.,
which pass through It.
The roads throughout the Mount Barker district, and
to the districts further east, are good naturally. In some
places where a little Improvement was necessary, the Set
tlers have done It of their own accord.
The northern districts of the province are likewise
easily accessible, with but little aid from the road maker.
A few wooden bridges, thrown over creeks, are almost
the only improvements which have been made in that
direction.

CHAP. VI.
SHEEP AND CATTLE FARMING.

" The present unexampled prosperity of New South WaUs is
chiefly to be traced to the production of fine wool, which is the
staple export."

Aware of the truth of the above extract from Mr.
M'Arthur's work, the early Settlers in South Australia
considered the importation of some of the best breeds of
sheep an object of primary importance. So soon, there
fore, as a settlement was effected, coramunications were
opened with Van Diemen's Land and Port PhiUp, and
shipments of stock for the new Colony were made from
both these places. The transport by sea was, however,
both expensive and hazardous, and a practicable route
overland from the Eastern settlements having been dis-

95
covered, aU other means of transit were soon superseded,
and many thousands of fine wooled sheep were driven
over by the New South Wales Settlers, and disposed
of to the South AustraUans.
To such an extent were these overland Importations
carried, that, combined with the increase by breeding
of those already In the Colony, the wool shorn from the
flocks which, in 1838 was conveyed to England in a single
small vessel. In 1839 filled two ships of considerable bur
den ; — ^In 1840 four ships were required, and, in 1841, no
less than six vessels were loaded, chiefly with wool.
During the first two years of the existence of the
Colony, cattle and horses were likewise imported by sea
from New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, but
were brought over by land in large numbers during 1839,
1840, and 1841.
The number of sheep In the Colony In the beginning
of 1842 was 250,000 ; of cattle, 16,000 ; of horses, 1000.
Every description of stock Increases very rapidly by
breeding, and It Is not therefore probable that any farther
importations wUl take place, but that on the contrary.
South Australia wiU soon be in a position to export both
cattle and sheep, should a favourable raarket offer. In
deed, a few shipraents to Swan River and other places
have already been made.
On the first establishraent of the Colony all kinds of
stock were very expensive. Good cows were frequently
sold as high as £20 a head ; horses from £80 to £120 ;
and breeding ewes could not be purchased under £2 to
£3 each. As importation increased, prices gradually
fell, and cows can now be purchased at prices varying
frora £5 to £10 ; horses from £30 to £40 ; and breed-
ing ewes from 12s. to 20s. a head.

96
Some farmers devote their attention almost exclusively
to sheep — others to breeding and rearing cattle on a
large scale. Others keep what is called " a dairy station,"
rearing or kilhng the calves, and raaking butter and cheese
for the Adelaide market. Agricultural farmers too have
generaUy a few head of cattle to supply their famiUes
with mUk, butter, and cheese.
There are two classes of sheep and cattle farmers —
those who form establishments on their own property, or
on rented land ; and " squatters " who settle on unappro
priated lands wherever a favourable locahty presents itself.
When a person purchases land with the intention of
keeping stock, he. If possible, makes a selection which
commands good water and a " back mn" — ^that Is a track
of hiU country, which Is not surveyed, or likely to be pur
chased for agricultural purposes, but yet affords good pas
ture. There is no such thing known in AustraUa as buy
ing land for the mere purpose of grazing. The purchases
are all confined to good agricultural soil, and the flocks
or herds of the Settler are dependant for food chiefly
on the surrounding unoccupied country.
The squatter purchases no land at all. He selects the
the best spot he can find in the unsold districts, and there
settles himself until the land on which he is located is
disposed of, and he must then shift his camp, and find
another situation farther inland. Thus the squatter Is
always liable to be warned off ; but for this he cares not.
He gets grass and water for his stock for nothing, and as
he erects no permanent dweUing, his place of residence
is soon shifted, and at a trifling expense. The only
erections at a squatting station are a turf or slab hut, or
probably a tent. The hurdles for the sheep yards are
moveable, and carried from place to place.

97
When South Australia was established, the Commis
sioners made a regulation that every purchaser of an
eighty-acre section of land, should be entitled to claim on
lease from the crown a square mile of pasture at a nomi
nal rent of £2 per annum. This regulation it was found
impracticable to carry out, and therefore it was not put in
force In the Colony. The present governor has, however.
Introduced a mode soraething sirailar to that adopted in
New South Wales, of giving licenses to squatters, for
which they are to pay a smaU sum annually. The
licenses wiU entitle thera to depasture their flocks In a
certain locality, and their rans will be fixed by an officer
appointed for that purpose. This raeasure wUl be of consi
derable benefit to the Settlers, as at present there Is no
rale or regulation araong squatters, and encroachments on
one another's runs, and consequent squabbles, are of con
stant occurrence. Things are soraething like what they
were in the patriarchal days, when the shepherds could
not agree about the wells and pastures.
The operations at a sheep station are in most instances
confined solely to the care of the flocks. SuppUes of
flour and dairy produce are got from a neighbouring agri
cultural farra, and are paid for in fat wethers. Tea,
sugar, &c., are got frora town, and are accounted for when
the produce of the clipping season is disposed of.
Sheep are divided into flocks containing from 500 to
1 000 each, according to the nature of the country. Where
the " ran " Is free from timber, or but Ughtly wooded, one
shepherd wUl take charge of 800 or 1000 sheep ; If forest
country, the flocks are liraited to 500 or 600. The
sheep are always driven at night into the pens, which
are formed of moveable hurdles, and the shepherd or hut-
keeper, with his dog, sleeps in a moveable box placed
i5

98
close to the fold. At sunrise the flock is counted out of
the pens and sent out to graze, the shepherd attending
them constantly until they return in the evening.
The regular lambing season in South AustraUa is May
and June. Some flocks, however, drop their lambs at
other seasons, as many flockmasters regulate the lamb-
ings so as to have three drop])Ings in two years. The
general Increase in healthy flocks is calculated at eighty
per cent, each lambing, after all losses, &c., have been
deducted, though I have known many instances where
the increase was far above that average.
The shearing season is, for old sheep in November
and December, and for lambs in February. Most of the
sheep farmers wash the sheep, if practicable, before shear
ing. The weight of a fleece of wool varies from two to
three pounds, and upwards.
There are numbers of regular sheep shearers — mostly
raen from the neighbouring Colonies — ^who go about
the country In the clipping season, and contract for
shearing the flocks of the Settlers. Many of these men
are very expert, and will shear a great nuraber of sheep
in the course of a day. When cut from the sheep, the
wool is packed In large canvas bags, each holding from
two to three cwt., and then forwarded on drays to Ade
laide, where it is disposed of to the merchants at prices
varying according to quality and condition, from 6d. to
Is. per pound. Some large sheep-owners ship their own
wool to England and await their returns, but the greater
portion of the clip is purchased by the merchants. When
the bales reach Adelaide they are opened, and the wool Is
repacked with a press, so as to crush It Into less bulk, and
It is then- ready for shipment. On board the ship It is
again subjected to machinery, and screwed into less than

99
one-third Its original size. The freight to England Is
from 1-^. to 2d. per pound.
The only disease of any consequence to which sheep
are subject in South Austraha Is scab. This disease was
very prevalent among the flocks in the eariy stages of
the Colony, but it is now graduaUy disappearing before
the active measures adopted by the flockmasters to cleanse
thefr flocks, and the precautions adopted by Government
to prevent the introduction of diseased animals, and the
spread of infection among those afready in the Colony.
The scab is a cutaneous disease, of a very Infectious
nature, so much so, that if a flock of diseased sheep feed
for a few hours on a field, any clean sheep that may
come thereafter wIU catch the infection. At the earnest
request of the sheep farmers, the late Governor passed an
act, imposing a heavy penalty on any sheep introduced
into the Colony affected with scab, and also a penalty on
all whose flocks were found to be unhealthy, after a cer
tain time had been given to cleanse them. To carry out
the provisions of the act, an officer is appointed, whose
duty it Is to examine all the flocks, and see that proper
measures are taken to cleanse such as are affected. To
defray the expenses of this, sheep are subjected to a poll
tax of lOd. per score.
The cure for this disease Is a solution of corrosive
subhmate, which is generaUy applied after shearing. As
a precautionary measure, a dressing with tobacco water
is usually given to sheep even of clean flocks when they
are shorn.
Foot rot is seldom seen In the Colony, the pastures
being mostly dry. In uncommonly moist seasons, and
in low situations. It occurs occasionally, but not so as
to cause any great mortality. Catarrh is a very pre-

100
valent and deadly disease In some parts of New South
Wales and Port PhUip, but happily it has never reached
South AustraUa.
Cattle breeding is followed by some persons on nearly
the same principle as sheep farming. Stations are forraed
In the country, where herds, containing from 100 to
1000 head of cattle, are superintended by one or more
stockmen. The cattle are allowed to roam about the
woods night and day the whole year round, being only
driven into the stock-yard at such tiraes as may be
necessary, to brand young cattle, &c.
A " cattle station'' is sometimes formed on Govem
ment land, sometimes on the Settler's own property, but
commanding a run. In the same way as a sheep station.
The only erections required are a substantial stock-yard,
and a hut or tent for the persons who have charge of
the herd. These are called stockmen, or stock keepers.
Each one Is furnished with a good serviceable horse, and
an immense whip, which he handles with great dexterity.
The handle of the whip is only about eighteen inches
long, but the lash is frora ten to fourteen feet in length.
Such a ponderous-looking affair seems rather unwieldy
in the hands of any one but a stockman, but by hira it
is used with the greatest ease and effect, even when
mounted, and his horse going at full gallop. In foUow
ing the cattle, or searching for such as may have strayed,
stockmen always go on horseback, and they are expert
and fearless riders.
In searching for strayed cattle, these men are often in
the " Bush"* for days together, galloping through woods
and over plains — across hills, mountains, and rivers  with-
• " The Bush"— the usual term for any part ofthe country.

101
out road or track of any kind, but so accustomed are they
to the wilds of the forests, that they never go astray, and
seldom fail to find such cattle as they go in search of.
On such occasions, they take with them a blanket, a
Uttle tea, sugar, and bread, and armed with the immense
stock whip, set out on their journey. When night comes,
the horse is unsaddled and turned out to graze; and the
bushman, having raade tea for himself In a tin mug or
"pannikin,"' covers himself with his blanket, and with
his saddle for a pillow, betakes himself to sleep under
the nearest tree. He continues this course from day to
day, until he has succeeded in fulfilUng the purpose for
which he set out, when he returns to the station.
One stockman will take charge of a large herd of
cattle. If married, his wife will Uve at the station and
cook his food; If not, a boy Is employed to act as cook,
&c. SuppUes of flour, pork, and tea and sugar, are sent
up as required by the proprietor, who also visits the sta
tion occasionally on horseback.
A " dairy station" Is very different from a sqnating one,
where a sohtary hut is tenanted by a single ferocious-look
ing bearded and moustached bushman and his cook. At
the dairy station we find a regular farm establishment —
dairy houses, sheds, and dweUIng-house, with the neces
sary complement of dairy maids, stockmen, &c.
At dairy stations, the cattle are likewise allowed to
feed generaUy night and day. They are driven into the
stock-yard moming and evening to be milked. In the
yard " bails" are erected, in which the cow is held whUe
she is being milked. The operation Is ahnost universally
performed by men.
When the milk is converted Into butter and cheese, it
Is carried into Adelaide in spring carts, and disposed

102
of to the dealers. Some farmers enter into a contract
with a merchant or storekeeper, to take the dairy produce
of the season at a fixed price. Butter and cheese of ex
cellent qualities are now made to a very large extent in
the Colony ; so that exportation of both to Van Diemen's
Land, and other places, has been commenced. Specimens
have also been brought to this country, and pronounced
equal to sorae of the best kinds of English cheese.
The largest cattle stations in South AustraUa at pre
sent, are those of Mr. J. B. Hack, at Mount Barker, who
has 1000 head of" cattle, old and young; the South Aus
traUan Corapany, whose herds amount to 1160; the Cat
tle Company, 600; Messrs. Frew & Rankin, Strath
albyn, 1758 head; Mr. Harris, Glenorchie, 900 head;
Messrs. Frew & Crawford, 360 ; Messrs. J. & W. Jacobs,
300 head; Mr. Dutton, Port Lincoln, 250 head; Mr.
Robinson, YankalUUa, 200 head ; and many others have
herds of 100 head and upwards. These are only smaU,
however, compared with the herds of many stockholders
in the older Colonies ; but they are only the commence
ments of the various Settlers, some of whom have only
recently purchased their herds, with the view of increas
ing them by breeding.
There are of course many estabUshments on a smaUer
scale than those mentioned — from the stockholder who
owns a thousand head of cattle, down to the mechanic,
who thinks himself rich in the possession of a single
cow. The largest sheep holders in the Colony are the South
Australian Company, who have 20,000 sheep ; Mr. Glee-
son, 3500 ; Mr. Lodwick, Onkaparinga, 3000 ; Mr Rey
nell, Hurtle Vale, 4000 ; Mr. Freeman, 3200 ; Mr. Dun
can M'Farlane, Mount Barker, 10,000; Mr. PhiUips,

103
merchant, 4000 ; Mr. Gemmell, Strathalbyn, 3500 ; Messrs.
Jones, YankalhUa, 5000; Mr. George Anstey, Parra,
10,000; Messrs. Dutton & Bagot, 11,000; Mr. Baker,
merchant, 6000; Mr John Hughes, Gilbert River, 5000;
Mr R. L. Leake, 6000; Messrs. Hopkins & Green, 4000 ;
Mr. Horrocks, River Hutt, 3200 ; Messrs. Peters, 5000,
&c. These were the numbers of their flocks in the end of
1841. It may also be remarked here, that many of the
Settlers mentioned have only lately commenced sheep
farming, and the numbers enumerated are consequently
merely the ground work of their flocks.
Horses of various breeds have been imported into South
AustraUa. There are a few thorough breds from Eng
land ; some strong draught horses, sprung originaUy out
of an EngUsh stock, from Van Diemen's Land and New
South Wales ; a few of the Arab breed from the East
Indies ; and a great number of dwarfish but hardy ponies
from Lombock and Timor. Besides these, there are
mongrel breeds of every description, brought over from
the older Colonies.
Some Settlers are directing their attention to the breed
ing of horses, as a lucrative branch of Colonial farming,
Mr. Hack, already mentioned, has upwards of 1 20 horses,
of all ages, among which are a great many breeding mares
and young animals ; and some of the other farmers have
from 10 to 20 mares breeding. The Colony wiU soon be
plentifully supphed 'however, and there seeras no proba
bUity of any foreign raarket offering for horses, so that
this branch is not likely to be carried to any great extent.
Van Dieraen's Land, New Zealand, and even the Maur
itius, present good markets for cattle and sheep ; and beef
can always be cured and suppUed to the shipping which
frequent the Port, and to the whalers whieh abound in

104
these seas; but there is no probability of a demand arising
for horses beyond the wants of the Colonists.
Goats are reared in considerable numbers, and are very
usefiil. Pigs and poultry are also reared in great num
bers, and fatten well on maize, &c. Pork of excellent
quality, and well flavoured, is always supplied by the
butchers in abundance ; and some owners of pigs have
begun salting it down for supplying the whaling stations.
There are several Colonial laws which affect the
farmer that may be noticed here. The principal of
these are a cattle registry, and an Impounding act. The
intention of the registry act, which was passed by Col.
Gawler, was to prevent the steaUng of cattle. This law
renders it necessary for every stockholder to select a dis
tinctive mark or brand, which is to be put on all his cat
tle. These brands are all registered, so that no similar
mark can be taken by two persons. Once registered, all
cattle bearing that brand can be clairaed by the Settler
wherever he finds them ; and cattle having no brands are
claimed as the property of Governraent.
The provisions of the impounding act are to protect the
crops of the agriculturists from damage by cattle, or other
animals ; and, therefore, cattle which are found astray
in any field whieh is fenced, may be seized and sent to
the nearest pound — of which there are several, erected in
various parts of the eountry. They are there detained
until the damage and poundage is paid. As the findings
of an impounding aet in a eountry like South AustraUa,
where so many hundreds of cattle are constantly straying,
might be turned to a bad account at times, care is taken
that fictitious impounding, or impounding on frivolous
pretences. Is not encouraged.
I may conclude this chapter by appending the following

105

table, showing the quantity of stock in the Colony in the
beginning of 1842, and the Increase during the three pre
ceding years from breeding and Importation : —

1838.

1839,

1840.

1841.

28,000 2,500 480

108,700 7,600 SOO

200,160 15,100 1,060

250,600 16,696 1,252

Cattle 

CHAP. VH.
COMMERCIAL MATTERS.
" See the tall ship extend her swelling sails.
To carry England's commerce o'er the deep !"
In a commercial point of view South Australia holds an
advantageous position among the numerous settlements
in that quarter of the globe. Although the primary re
quisites In settling a Colony are a good soil and a genial
clime, yet a position affording facilities for commerce is
too important an object to be overlooked, and on its capa
biUties in this respect wUl depend much of its ultimate
success. The principal harbours of South AustraUa command an
easy and regular coramunication with all the other Aus
tralian settlements, as well as wifh India, China, and
England ; and vessels bound frora Port Adelaide or Port
Lincoln to Britain or the East Indies, can, at aU seasons,
proceed round Cape Leuwin, thus avoiding the dangerous
navigation of Torres Straits, or the storray and dis
agreeable route round Cape Horn.
This advantage in point of geographical position, com-
106
bined with the capacity and eligibility of the harbours of
Port Adelaide and Port Lincoln, as commercial entrepots,
renders it extremely probable that South Austraha wUl,
in a short time, become a dep&t for Indian and Chinese
goods for the other colonies. A considerable trade is
already opened with these countries, and large quantities
of the goods Imported from thence are re-shipped In coast
ing vessels for the neighbouring settlements of New
South Wales, Port PhiUip, and Van Diemen's Land, as
opportunities of a market offer.
It could not be expected that hitherto much com
merce shonld have been earried on between South Aus
tralia and other countries. A few years are required
to bring the productive capabilities of a new Colony into
play, during which time her trade must consist chiefly In
importing. This has been the case with South Australia.
The pastures were to stock, and the land to till, ere any
returns could be looked for. The tide of commerce has
now, however, begun to flow in the right direction ;
and although it is not probable that, for a few years to
come, the value of South Austrahan exports will amount
to as large a sum as that of the Imports, yet their equa
lization will approach rapidly every year.
A retrospective view of the commerce of the Colony
will show the truth of this. In 1 837 about thirty ton»
df sperm oil, valued at £3000, were exported to the
mother country. This oil was taken by one of the ships
belonging to the South Australian Company, on her
outward voyage. In 1838 a small quantity of oil, the
produce of the whale fishery, and of wool, the produce of
the first shearing season was exported — the value of the
whole being about £4000. In 1839 the value of the ex
ports had risen to nearly £10,000; and in 1840 to no
less than £20,000. The value of the exports in 1841

107
was estiraated In the Colony at £50,000, but the sum
realised did not exceed £40,000. This was derived from
various articles of export produced in the Colony, and
exclusive of considerable quantities of merchandise re
shipped to the neighbouring settlements.
The principal articles of export consist of wool and
whale oil. In addition to these, small shipments have
been made of timber, bark, hides, horns, tallow, butter,
cheese, slates, fat cattle, and sheep. The oil and wool
are sent to Britain. The neighbouring colonies of New
South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and New Zealand,
and even the Mauritius, offer a. market for many of the
other articles. Samples of preserved beef and pork have
also been forwarded to this country, and other places, and
from their quality, and the cheap rate at which preserved
beef can be landed in England, there Is every prospect of
a considerable traffic in the latter article taking place.
The value of the imports into Soutfa Australia I have
not the means of ascertaining correctly. The official
returns have been swelled out by the immense quantitieh
of goods with whieh South AustraUa, in common with
the other Colonies, has been deluged during the last three
or four years. The stores of the merchants, the auction
rooms, the bonded stores, and the retail shops have been
filled with goods for which there was no proportionate
demand — many of the articles being unfitted for the
market. The English merchants have completely
glutted the markets throug^hout Australia of late years,
and It will take some time ere the effects of this glut
pass away.* The evil will remedy itself however. Owing
to the over supply, goods have been forced to sale, and
• By recent advices from the Colony, it appears that in some
articles the glut has passed away, and sales had been effected of
goods to arrive.

108
disposed of at a great sacrifice, and the loss falls princi
paUy on the English exporters, who have thus frastrated
their own purposes. These losses will tend to prevent
such extensive and indiscriminate shipments In future, so
that ere long the markets will be restored to a healthy
state. In the first Chapter, I mentioned that the dishonour of
a great amount of government bills by the commissioners,
and the subsequent suspension of a large proportion of
the government expenditure, produced disastrous effects
on mercantile affairs In the Colony. This depression
was considerably heightened by the fact just mentioned,
namely, an over supply of every description of mer
chandise. I may here allude more particularly to that " crisis."
The chief causes from which it arose I have already men
tioned, naraely, the sudden check caused by the reduction
of the expenditure of the Colonial government, from
about £150,000 to £30,000 a-year — the absorption of a
great amount of capital In the purchase of land, stock,
and provisions — an unfortunate spirit of speculation, in
which many spent their time and means, instead of tilUng
the soil — and the cessation of the introduction into the
Colony of capital from the mother country, at the very
time it was most wanted to supply the place of that whieh
had been expended for stock and provisions.
So many unfavourable circumstances, arising almost
simultaneously, could not be otherwise than productive of
mueh mischief. Every man in the Colony was affected
more or less, and it is Indeed wonderful that so young a
Colony has stood the severe test so well as South Aus
tralia has done.
StIU, notwithstanding the very depressed state of mat-

109
ters, the Colony, as such, is not in a bad etate. Far from
it. It has been said that South Australia was bankrupt,
and the Settlers starving, and other statements equally mis
chievous and erroneous have been circulated. For these
there is no foundation. It cannot be denied that many of
the Colonists have become bankrupt — have been brought
to this condition by the force of circumstances over which
they had no control ; but there Is raore real available
property in the province than would liquidate all deraands
on the Settlers ten times over. All that Is wanted is a
circulating mediura — a something to represent property.
While writing these passages, I have seen a letter
from an intelUgent gentleraan In Adelaide, dated three
months after my departure, which contains some sensible
remarks on the state of the Colony and its prospects, from
which I shall quote a few sentences. He says, speaking
of the crisis and the causes of It : —
" The present governor is acting on diametrically opposite prin
ciples to his predecessor. Eut whether right or wrong in principle,
it is too sudden a change for our small community to bear. He has
amalgamated offices, reduced salaries, and discharged clerks, mes
sengers, and labourers from every department. All the evils are
not, howeyer, to be attributed to th« change of policy in the Go
vernment. Nothing was done in the shape of agriculture till last
year. But could it be expected that tlie settlers would com
mence while wages were so high ? and coald private individuals con
trol the rate of wages ? Immigration kept pouring in upon us, and
yet the increase of population seemed but to increase the rate of
wages. The high rate of wages led to a state of great profusion
and luxury among the labouring classes ; and this, with the purchase
of all the necessaries of life, turned the balance of trade completely
against us. The eirenlaiing copiial ofihe colony becomes absorbed;
the measures ofthe Government hasten the climax; immigratioH
ceases ; andthe crisis comes.
The present state of affairs in the Colony is a perfect anomaly —
we are almost starving in the midst of plenty. We cannot complain
of a sterile soil or blighting seasons ; no, we have a fertile soil,
K 5

no
fruitful seasons, and a genial clime. The crops generally hava
more than answered the expectations of the settlers, and the flocks
and herds have greatly increased. Capital to a very large amount
has been invested in land, houses, &c- Here is a country beautifuUy
fertile, and capable of abundant gifts for the plough, the fleece, and
the vine ; for horses, cattle, and sheep. The whole, though great
in amount, seems unavailing in use ; great in intrinsic value, yet
lying dead and powerless, nought but a vis inertia. All is darkened
and negatived, not by the want of property, but money. But we
have yet hopes.
The local causes of our adversity have ceased to operate — the
experience of the past will be a guide and a warning for the fu
ture ; and our claims for the sympathy and support of the Bri
tish Government, though long delayed, will doubtless eventually be
admitted. The error of attempting to fix a largely disproportionate
part of the population as a commercial city has been exploded ; the
fallacy of large investments in unproductive buildings has detected
itself. The fictitious and gambling value attached to mere land has
been destroyed. The avaricious excess of price in goods and la
bour, which put us out of keeping with the rest of the world, has
ceased; and the extravagance consequent on exorbitant wages,
which has aggravated, by improvident consumption, the heavy bal
ance of imports against us, has been checked. The operations of
last year have thrown a great light upon the seasons and soils ; and,
doubtless, a little experience will be found profitable. Land,labour,
and produce are now cheap, and nothing is wanting but the circula
tion of a little of the ' ready ' (to use a colonial phrase,) to infuse
new life into us, and put the Settlers on their legs again."
The above Is almost entirely In accordance with my
own opinions. But the crisis is now past the cUmax,
and the importation of a moderate amount of capital,
brought into active employment, would restore the
Colony to a state more healthy than it has been at
any previous period. It Is now corapletely stocked, and
producing nearly all the necessaries of life in abundance;
and for such, articles of raanufacture, tea, sugar, &c., as
the wants of the Colonists raay require, there are wool,
oU, and other articles to send In exchange.
I have considered it necessary to refer so far to this

Ill
monetary crisis, as it has been held up by many parties
as showing that South AustraUa has failed as a Colony,
and that it Is, as a widely circulated journal, published
in the Scottish capital, some time since asserted, "de
cidedly the worst Colony under the British Crown."
Never was a more fallacious statement given to the
public than this. Although injudicious speculation, and
offieial mismanagement, combined with other circum
stances incidental to all new Colonies, have resulted In
bringing on a great mercantUe depression, the real ele
ments of colonial prosperity are abundant within South
Australia, and can never be destroyed by any pres
sure. Instead of holding forth the crisis as a bugbear
against emigration, it might be used as a strong argu
raent on the other side. Capital is now of more value
than before — stock of every description cheaper — labour
plentiful and cheap — and money can be invested with
far less risk than when the Colony was in an apparently
more prosperous state.
I may thus take leave of the "crisis," and return
to the proper subject of this Chapter.
On the foundation of South Australia, articles of Bri
tish manufacture, provisions, agricultural impleraents,
and sueh like, were imported by the Colonists from Bri
tain. When the Colony was fairly estabUshed, a trade
with the neighbouring settleraents sprang up, and cattle,
horses, sheep, and provisions, were iraported in large
quantities. Subsequently intelUgence was spread of the
formation of the new settlement, and the merchants in
Singapore began to send down supplies of tea, sugar,
rice, &c.; wine and fruit were brought from the Cape
of Good Hope; sugar from the Mauritius; and sundry
articles of Indian produce from Calcutta.

112
At present the import trade of the Colony may be
summed up as foUows : —
From Britain — manufactured goods of every descrip
tion, spirits and wines, ale and beer, deals, glass, soap,
salt, &c.
From Singapore — tea, sugar, rice, sago, cedar, furni
ture, cigars.
Frora Mauritius — sugar.
From the Cape — twines, dried fmits, coffee.
From Van Diemen's Land — ^wheat, flour, oats, and
potatoes.* From New South Wales — cedar and sundries.
A few vessels have carried cargoes from the Continent
to Port Adelaide, and one schooner from the United
States disposed of part of her cargo of flour, spirits, and
tobaeco, there, eariy in 1842.
The exports are, as I have stated, as yet but compara
tively small, but are yearly increasing at a, rapid rate.
To England are exported wool, oil, seal-skins, hides,
horns, and whalebone, witii small quantities of timber,
bark, lead ore, tallow, and curiosities.
To Swan River — cattle, sheep, and horses.
To Van Diemen's Land — fat cattle, butter, cheese,
tallow, and melons.
To New South Wales — slates, butter, and cheese.
The export of articles, the produce of the Colony for
1 84 1 , was as follows : —

Butter, 108 kegs and cases.
Bark, 6 bhds. 3 cases.
Cheese, 8 cases.
Cattle, 77,
Firewood, 10 tons.
Gum, 3 casks.

Gum Logs, 34.
Hides, 183.
Hides, 36 cases, 14 casks, 3 bales.
Hay, 5 tons, 56 trusses.
Horns, 3 casks.
Horses, 19,

• The importation of wheat, flour, and potatoes from Van Di<r
men's Land, will by this time have ceased.

113

Lead ore, 77 cases.
Lime, 8 casks, 20 boxes.
Limestone, 55 tons.
Lard, 42 casks.
Melons, 23 casks.
Minerals, 5 cases.

Oil (whale), 443 casks.
Seal skins, 25 casks.
Slates, 85,000,
Sheep, 2810.
Whalebone, 485 bundles.
Wool, 1905 bales.

In addition to the above, the following articles were
exported, which, though not Colonial produce, must be
p)Ut to the per contra of the Imports : —

Ale and beer, 260 casks.
Apparel, 7 cases.
Bags, 25 bales.
Boats, 2.
Beef, 47 casks, 12 tierces.
Chairs, 50,
Candles, 34 boxes.
Coffee, 341 bags.
Copper, 167 sheets.
Cocoa nuts, 724.
Cigars, 724 boxes.
Crockery, 16 casks.
Deals, 120,
Drapery, 87 cases.
Dried fruits, 96 boxes.
Flour (sago), 167 bags.
Glass, 7 crates.
Guns, 43 cases.
Ginger, 20 cases.
Hams, 40.
Ironmongery, 29 cases.
Lead, 56 baskets.
Mustard, 73 cases.
Oatmeal, 69 bolls.
Paint, 89 kegs.
Pepper and spices, 69 cases.
Pipes, 6 boxes.

Paper, 4 bundles.
Pork, 224 barrels.
Pickles, 66 cases.
Rice, 820 bags.
Raisins, 51 boxes.
Rope, 41 coils.
Sago, 154 boxes.
Soap, 56 boxes.
Salt, 620 bags, 45 casks.
Soda, 7 casks.
Shingles, 51,000,
Steam-engine, 1,
Spirits — Brandy, 111 hhds., 33
cases.
Rum, 110 casks.
Gin, 408 cases, 130 bris.,
] 4 qr. casks.
Ships' stores, 240 cases.
Sugar, 920 bags.
Sundries, 245 cases.
Tea, 934 chests, 886 boxes, 186
half boxes, 205 qr. boxes.
Types, 16 cases.
Tobacco, 1 14 kegs.
Timber, 1014 pieces.
Wines, 104 pipes, 20 hhds., 30
half do., 20 qr, do,, 15 cases.

A considerable trade is Ukely to spring up in sup
plying whaling vessels with vegetables, corned meat, &e.
The seas around are crowded with whalers — French and,
American chiefly — which used to resort to Hobart Town
every season for refreshments, but a great many of them
wUl now prefer Port Adelaide, as it Is raore convenient
to the fishing grounds, and provisions can be got as cheap
there as in Van Diemen's Land. The season before I
left, three whalers — one French, one American, and one

fll4
English — put into Port Adelaide and obtained supplies,
and frora the reports their coraraanders carried away,
many others wiU be induced to foUow their example.
In the early stages of the Colony, the unimproved
and inconvenient state of the Port, and the exorbitant
charge for transporting goods from the landing plaee to
town, were great drawbacks on the comraercial enter
prise of the Settlers. The Port itself is commodious and
safe,* but In Its natural state, it could not be expected
to command facilities for discharging or loading cargoes.
, To remedy this, a proposal was made to erect wharves
some distance below the spot where ships usnally dis
charged. This project was first brought forward by the
Colonial Manager of the South Austrahan CompEmy, and
to that gentleraan, and to the liberality of the proprietary
of the corapany in London, South Australia is raainly
Indebted for the excellent harbour accommodation she
now possesses. In order to obtain access to the spot
which was fixed on for the erection of the wharves. It
became necessary to form a road across an intervening
* As it has been asserted frequently in print, and once before a
Committee of the House of Commons, that Poft Adelaide was
quite the opposite of'this, I may here give my humble testimony
regarding it. I have ejtamined every oook and corner of it, from,
the bar upwards, and have no l^esitation in saying, tfaat I have
never been in a safer or more convenient harbour than it is, for
ships, not above 600 tons. In confirmation of my own opinion, I
am happily enabled to give that of Captain Stokes, of H. M. S.
Beagle, surveying ship, who surveyed the harbour in January,
1842. He terms it, in adespateh to Governor Grey, a " natukal
dock;" and, if further evidence were wanting, the following letter,
sig'ned by eleven shipmasters, would be sufficient : —
" Port Adelaide, 20th Dec. 1841,
" We, who hereunto annex our names, being comniaivders of
vessels now lying in Port Adelaide, beg, before quitting the port,
to express publicly our opinion of its capabilities and accommoda
tions. Port Adelaide is a safe and commodious harbour, capable
of containing a great number of vessels vvith safety. At present
there are six barques and ships, four brigs, a steamer, and fiye

115
swamp, which cost an Immense amount of labour and
expense,* ExceUent wooden wharves were also erected,
extending 366 feet in length, alongside of which there
is a depth of fifteen feet of water, at low water, besides
a space of 112 feet at one end of the wharf. An ex
cellent coraraodious store was also erected, capable of
holding 2000 tons of goods. Part of It is now used as
a bonded store by Governraent, and the remainder is
rented by a private company, who carry on business as
shipping agents.
Simultaneously with these operations, Government be
gan another wharf adjoining that of the company, with
schooners, lying here. Two barques, each of upwards of 300 tons,
two brigs, aud two schooners, are alongside the wharf, discharging
and loading, and the remainder on the opposite side. Five of these,
viz., two barques, two brigs, and a schooner, are loading cargoes
for Britain, and three undergoing repair. We have therefore no
hesitation in saying, that Port Adelaide is as safe, and affords as
great facilities for loading and unloading, as any port in the Austra
lian colonies. " H. W. Gibb, barque ' Fama' of London,
W. RoGEBS, barque ' Orissa' of London,
Obeb. Delano, ship ' Mercator' of New Bedford.
W. Galbraith, barque ' Alcmena' of Leith,
D, M'Lean, brig ' Francis Yates' of London,
H. Jones, schooner ' Duke of Sussex,' of London,
B. F. Simmons, schooner ' Vixen' of Swan River.
W. D. Dove, brig ' Daphne' of Greenock.
D. Talbot, schooner ' Waterwitch' of Port Adelaide,
A, Dbtsdale, brig ' King Henry' of Glasgow.
G. W. Beown, schooner ' Hawk' ofLondon."
This may appear to some unnecessary, bnt my object is to re
move false impressions, and when I state that such representations
faad been made regarding Port Adelaide by an officer in the navy,
that the insurance brokers declined at one timd to effect insurance
on vessels bound thither, I think no one will accuse me of referring
so minutely to this matter without cause,
• By recent offlcial accounts from the Colony, it appears that the
Governor had made an agreement with the Colonial Manager of
the Company to have the Road transferred to Government for
£12,000— that sum to be expended in the purchase of 12,000 acres
of land — and it is understood that this arrangement has been ap
proved of by the Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies, In
consequence of this, the road remains open to the public without
the imposition of any toll dues.

116
extensive sheds attached, and a custom-house was erected
close by. When the works on the company's side were
corapleted, they were thrown open to the public on the
14th of October, 1840. Governor Gawler and his lady
were present — a general holiday was observed — raan,
woraan, and child, having felt deeply interested in the
completion of so Important an undertaking. These
measures effectuaUy secured to the Colony araple har
bour accoraraodation, and facilities for discharging and
loading ships.
The charge for conveyance of goods to town is now
very much reduced. At one time the cost of transport
to Adelaide from the Port was fully as great as the freight
from England, but now the usual charge for carriage Is
from 4s. to 5s. per ton.
Up to the middle of 1 842, the duties on Imported goods
were trifling — all kinds of merchandise, except wines,
spirits, and tobacco, having been admitted free. By later
intelligence from the Colony, I learn that Governor Grey
has imposed duties on all other articles of commerce. It
is to be hoped that, in levying such Imposts, great caution
will be used, and a strict surveillance raaintained by the
Home Government, inasmuch as I regret to find, that in
many of his Excellency's proceedings he has pursued a
very vaeUlatIng poUcy-^a poUey calculated materially to
Injure the commerce of the province, and cramp the ener
gies of the Colonists.
One of Captain Grey's acts was to raise the postage on
letters to a high rate, thinking thereby to augment the
revenue. The reverse was, however, the result, and he
was obliged, after a few weeks' trial, to lower it again.
He then raised the charges on shipping, but the result was
equally unsatisfactory. Instead of increasing the revenue.

117
this proceeding had the effect of driving away many of the
vessels which had previously been content to make what
they could of such small freights as were going, but who
could not afford to pay the exorbitant rates iraposed by
the local governraent. The Governor had therefore,
after a few weeks' trial, to reduce the charges to nearly
the former scale. Such sudden changes as these must be
productive of incalculable injury to the Colony ; and I
trust the English Government wiU not encourage his Ex
ceUency in any such experimental legislation, and that
they wUl soon see meet to give the Colonists a voice in
the CouncU, which wUl act as a salutary cheek on all
abuse of authority on the part of those who are at the
head of affairs.
There Is no question but duties or taxes of some kind
raust be Imposed to raise a revenue, but great care should
be taken that in a new Colony these are laid on In a way
the least obnoxious, and so as to have the least injurious
influence on the coraraercial enterprise of the Settlers.
The following are the duties leviable on imported goods
as published in the Government Gazette of the llth
August, 1842:—
Spirits, foreign  12s. per gal,
from British possessions  8s.
Colonial distilled  8s.
Wine, foreign, ad valorem  15 per cent.
Tobacco, manufactured  2s. per lb.
unmanufactured  Is. 6d. ...
Cigars  5s.
Tea, sugar, coffee, flour, meal, wheat, rice, and
other grain  5 percent.
Porter, ale, &c  10
Other merchandise  10
The charges on shipping are as follows : —
PILOTAGE DUES FOR ENTERING AND LEAVING PORT.
For every Vessel drawing 7 feet, and under, £3 0 0
Do. do. 8 do. 9 3 10 0
Do, do, 9 do, 10 4 0 0
L

118
For every Vessel drawing 10 feet, and under 11, £i 10 0
Do, do. 11 do, 12 5 0 0
Do, do. 12 do. 13 5 10 0
Do, do. 13 do, 14 6 0 0
Do, do. 14 do. 15 6 10 0
And so on, increasing Ten Shillings for every additional foot.
HARBOUR DUES.
For every Vessel under 100 tons, £0 5 0
Do. do. of 100 tons, and under 200 tons, 0 15 0
Do, do, of 200 do. 300 1 10 0
Do. do, of300 do. 400 2 0 0
Do. do, of 400 do. 500 2 10 0
Do. do. of 500 tons and upwards, 3 0 0
The rates of wharfage vary according to the packages.
Ordinary sized cases are charged 6d. each, larger ones
from Is. to 2s.
Goods are mostly sent out to the Colony on consign
ment, and are disposed of by the merchants and commission
agents to the retailers. The charge for commission is 5
per cent. — or where payments are guaranteed 7-g- per cent-
Payments in the Colony are usually made by acceptances
at three months after date.
The monetary affairs of the merchants are transacted
through the banks, two In number, namely, the Bank of
South Australia, and the Australasian Bank. The first
establishment was originally carried on by the South Aus
tralian Company, but It is now separated from the Com
pany's other operations ; and although the proprietary in
both departments is substantiaUy the same, it is not en
tirely SO. The transactions of the Bank of South Aus
tralia are raostly confined to the Colony, and with Eng
land ; but there are agencies In the various neighbour
ing Settleraents, as well as In the principal ports of
India, &c. The rates of exchange vary according to the
state of the raoney raarket. Discounts on good bills are
charged at the rate of 8 per cent, per annum ; on overdue
bills, 12 per cent, per annum. Ten per cent, is charged

119
on cash credits. The interest allowed Is — on current ac
counts, 2 per cent. ; on deposits for three months, 5 per
cent. ; and on deposits lodged for twelve months, 7 per cent.
The Bank of Australasia Is a Branch of the Bank in
London incorporated by Royal Charter under that name.
The raode of transacting business, and the charges, are
similar to those of the Bank of South AustraUa,
As illustrative of the raonetary affairs of the Colony, I
subjoin returns of the assets and liabilities of both Banks.
It may be mentioned, that these returns relate to the
half-year during which the crisis was felt most severely.
The average weekly amount of the liabilities and assets
of the Bank of South Australia, from 25th Nov., 1841,
to soth May, 1842, was as follows : —
LIABILITIES,
Notes in circulation not bearing Interest,
Bills in circulation not bearing Interest,
Balances due to other Banks, ¦ - -
Cash deposited, bearing Interest, . . -
Total Liabilities, ASSETS.
Gold, silyer, and other metals, - . -
Landed property. Bank premises, &c.
Balances due from other Banks, -
DebtaduetotheBank, including bills, notes, &c. 167,331 18
Total Assets, - - £187,479 0 1
The return for the Australasian Bank for the half year
ending 10th October, 1842, was —
LIABILITIES,
Notes in circulation, - - - £2,770 15 4
Bills in circulation, - 1,872 2 0
Cash deposited bearing Interest, - 15,792 18 4

£ 8.
10,010 12
1,570 12
572 15
43,669 4

d. 11)0 2 7

£55,803 5

6

£ s.
¦ 12,063 18
5,883 19
- 2,249 3
167,331 18

d. 95
4
7

£20,435 15 8
ASSETS,
Gold, silyer, &c.  £8,416 2 10
Debts due to the Bank, including bills, notes, &c. 36,164 3 8
£44,580 6 6

120
In addition to these two Banks, there are an Insurance
Company and an Auction Company, estabhshed by the
Colonists, both of whom traffic In discounts and loans,
on property upon mortgage. The Insurance Company
also effects policies of Insurance on houses and other pro
perty, as well as Marine and Life Assurances. I am not
aware of the rates charged, but I beUeve they are consider
ably higher than in England. The Company's affairs are
managed by a Board of Directors. The shares originally
were £25, — 10 per cent, being paid up.
A Chamber of Commerce has been established in the
Colony for sorae years, consisting of all the principal raer
chants. It has frequently been of considerable service to
the Colony, by making representations to Government on
matters eonnneeted with the commercial interests of the
Province. Intimately connected with the comraercial importance of
Sonth Australia Is the whale fishery. The waters of the
great bight of Australia, stretching from King George's
Sound to Cape Northumberland, abound with black
whales, and South Australia coramands the whole of that
sea. In the winter season the fish come into the bays aU
along the coast in great numbers, and a most lucrative
fishing might be carried on In many of them. The Ade
laide merchants have established a bay whaling station at
Encounter Bay, one on Kangaroo Island, and another at
Sleaford Bay ; and the oil and bone of these fisheries form
articles of export to the mother country to the amount of
£10,000 to £15,000 yearly. Still this is nothing to what
might be done ; and it is astonishing that the merchants
and shipowners of London, ever on the look-out for op
portunities of employing capital, should let so favourable
a field for investment escape their notice. Nearly the
whole of the whale fishery on the southern coast of Aus-

121
tralia is abandoned to foreigners, French and Americans —
who every year fill up valuable cargoes at the very doors
of the British Settlers. I have known foreign whalers
to anchor in the Bays of South AustraUa, and kill fish
actuaUy In sight of the British Settlers. Yet Government
takes no steps to prevent such gross encroachments on
the rights of Its subjects ; while they think nothing of
expending thousands of pounds, and hundreds of human
Uves, In prosecuting enterprises which are never likely to
produce the slightest national or individual benefit. The
foreign whalers sweep the seas along the Australian coast
every year of many thousands of pounds worth of oil and
bone, which, in all justice, ought to belong to the British
Colonists. As South Australia advances, her Settlers will no doubt
extend their operations in tbis department ; but so long
as foreigners are permitted to chase the whales out of our
very harbours, there is little hope that it will be carried to
anything like the extent it would otherwise be. Thou
sands of tons of British shipping, and hundreds of British
seamen, might find ample and profitable employment
where Americans and Frenchmen have at present almost
a, monopoly.

l5

122

CHAP. VIH.
SKETCH OF ADELAIDE AND SURROUNDING VIL
LAGES—COLONIAL LIFE AND MANNERS.

" Here merchants most do congregate."

It has already been mentioned, that the town or city of
Adelaide is buUt on a rising ground, on eaeh bank of the
River Torrens, by which it is divided Into North and
South Adelaide. The situation is pleasant and airy,
and comraands views of the surrounding country, of the
Mount Lofty Ranges, and of St. Vincent's Gulf.
The land on which the town is built, consisted of an
open grassy forest, and though most of the trees have
now disappeared In those places which are thickly in
habited, there are portions of the town that stiU retain
much of their original appearance, being studded with
fine large gum trees, which afford an evergreen shade
to the cottages round which they stand.
A considerable space on each side of the river, and a
belt aU round the town, was reserved on the original
plan as park lands, or pleasure grounds for the citizens.
Along the river side, and to the east of the town, this
affords delightful walks and landscapes even In its natural
state ; and when the town council has replenished their
eoffers, so as to be in a position to enclose the land, to
lay out walks, &g., it will make one of the most delight
ful pleasure grounds in the world. It already possesses
all the appearance of a fine park, and only requires walks
laid out, and a few shrabs planted, to render it complete.
The town covers a large space of ground  something
upwards of 1000 acres having been sold as building

123
allotments, besides streets, squares, &c. The streets are
aU of great breadth, running east and west, parallel to
each other, and are intersected by cross streets, running
north and south. The narrowest streets, as laid down
in the original plan, are sixty-six feet wide, and many
others are ninety-nine feet. The principal streets which
Intersect the town are one hundred and thirty-two feet
In -width. This is South Adelaide. North Adelaide is
not so regularly laid out, having been planned to suit
the groimd, which is of an uneven character. South
Adelaide is the spot where nearly all business is trans
acted — North Adelaide is mostly composed of residences
of merchants, Govemment officers, and others.
The principal streets are — North Terrace, Hindley
Street, and Rundle Street, which are a continuation of
each other, and Currie and GrenfeU Streets, which are
simUarly situated. These lie to the north of South Ade
laide, and in them are situated most of the principal
shops and warehouses, auction rooms, hotels, club houses,
newspaper offices, &c.
Many of the buUdings in Adelaide are not only sub
stantial, but handsome — the shops are large and showy,
and the various articles of merchandise are displayed in
the windows, and at the doors, to catch the eye of the
passer-by. The warehouses are capacious, and contain
a supply of all articles required by the retailer. Sorae
of the hotels are extensive buildings, and afford every
convenience and comfort which an English hotel sup
phes. The banks, two in number, are situated In North
Terrace, which fronts the river. The Bank of South
.^LustraUa is a fine stone building lately erected, and
fitted up In the best style ; the other, the Bank of Aus
tralasia, is a plain, low, unassuming cottage.

124
The Club House, situated in Hindley Street, Is a sub
stantial good-looking building, containing extensive ac
commodation — sleeping and otherwise. Many Settlers
in the country are members of the Club, and resort
to it when in town on business. Strangers are ad
mitted for a time on being Introduced by a member.
A reading-room is attached to the Club Rooms, which
is supplied with English and Colonial papers and perio
dicals. There are no less than eleven churches in Adelaide
of various denominations. Of these, the first is Trinity
Church, an old-fashioned looking building, erected In
the early stages of the Colony, partly of limestone and
partly of brick. The walls are not even plastered, and
the windows are small cottage casements, about a foot
and a half wide. It is built in the shape of a cross, and
a low clurasy steeple stands at one end.
St. John's Church Is a plain but corafortable-looking
and neatly finished brick edifice, lately finished, situate In
the south-eastern part of the town, and Is the second
Episcopalian church.
A very handsorae, coraraodious, and weU finished
chapel, belonging to the Wesleyan Methodists, stands
in a private street leading from Rundle Street to Gren
feU Street; and another very creditable chapel, belong
ing to the Independents, is situate at no great distance
from the former. These buildings are of stone, and
chastely but tastefully finished.
The Scottish Dissenters have lately completed the
erection of a very neat chapel in the centre of the town.
Though not large, it is substantially buUt of stone, and
well finished internally.
The Baptists have a smaU unassuming chapel In Hind-

125
ley Street;* and, in addition to these, there are three
other sraaU places of worship in connection with the
Methodists. The sraall chapel belonging to the Society
of Friends, and the preraises used by the Roraan Catho
hcs, make up the number of places of worship mentioned.
Every one of these buildings has been erected by the
private subscription of the Colonists, on whom also falls
the support of the pastors. The incumbent of Trinity
Church receives £200 a-year from Government as colo
nial chaplain; and one or two of the other ministers
have been partly supported by societies in this country ;
but the Colonists have, voluntarily and cheerfully, borne
most of the burden of erecting their own churches, and
supporting their pastors. It is to be regretted that the
members of the Church of Scotland, though a consider
able body in the Colony, have as yet no regular place
of worship. A minister arrived shortly before I left,
and endeavours were being made to get a church erected,
and in the meantime they had the use of the Baptist
Chapel for divine service.
There are numerous scholastic establishments in Ade
laide, and one or two in the rural districts. The prin
cipal of these are — a Classical Academy kept by the
Rev. Mr. Stow, the Independent Pastor, and assistants ;
a Classical and EngUsh School, by the Rev. Mr. Drum
mond, Minister of the Scottish Dissenters; the South
Australian School Society's School, conducted by Mr.
Oldham ; an Infant School, which is under the manage
ment of a committee of ladles; and an Academy at
Mount Barker, conducted by Mr. M'Gowan, the author
of several popular EngUsh school books. There are
* This has been since used by the Scottish Presbyterians, who
have not yet got a church of their own erected.

126
also several Seminaries for the education of young ladies,
and Sunday Schools In connexion with the various con
gregations. The other public buildings in Adelaide consist of the
Government House, the Government Offices, Jail, Thea
tre, Public School, Musical Saloon, &c.
The Government House Is built on the park lands
between North and South Adelaide. It is a handsorae
building, though apparently Incoraplete, the late Gover
nor having built it on a plan which admitted of its being
enlarged at a future tirae. The Government Offices are
situated In the centre of the town, and consist of a line
of buildings one storey high, coraposing a parallelogram,
and having a handsorae front towards the south. They
are built of stone, and slated. They contain the offices of
the Colonial Secretary, Treasurer, Survey and Land De
partment, Registry Office, Sheriff's Office, and the Su
preme Court Chambers.
The Jail Is an extensive and not Ineleg-ant erection,
on the banks of the river, a little below the town. It
forras a section of an octagon, and contains lines of cells
strongly built of brick, and surrounded by a high stone
waU, flanked by watch towers at each corner. The front
is towards the south, and the entrance is through the
house set apart for the governor of the jail. It, as well
as Government House, is incomplete.
The Theatre is a large brick and stone building, situate
near Currie Street, and contains, In addition to the Play
house, extensive saloons and sleeping rooms, which are
occnpied as a hotel. The Theatre is very handsomely
finished, and tastefully fitted up, and is capable of holding
about 1200 persons. It was built and furnished at great
expense by a single Colonist, Mr. E. Solomon, and a corps

127
dramatique has been kept up for sorae tirae, but It Is
found that to raaintain a theatrical corapany is rather too
premature for the Colony.
A very neat music saloon, or concert room, was lately
built, also by a private individual, towards the south part of
the town, In which baUs and concerts are held frequently.
It will be seen from these remarks, that South Australia
has already begun to assume the appearance of a consider
able comraunity, surrounded by raost of the concoraitants
and coraforts of civUized life ; and the contrast between
Adelaide as it now is, and as It was In 1 837, which I have
already attempted to describe, will at least show that the
Colonists have not been idle, and that those who now pro
ceed to the Colony will have no need to fear any of those
inconveniences to which the early Settlers were constantly
exposed. In literature. South Australia Is not behind her other
acquirements. There are, or were, four newspapers pub
Ushed in Adelaide — one twice a week, the other three
weekly. These are all conducted with considerable talent,
fcnd besides political subjects, contain full accounts of all
matters connected with the progress or prospects of the
Colony, all new discoveries, &c. A monthly magazine
was also established sorae tirae ago, which contains original
articles — fact and fiction — on various subjects connect
ed with the Colony — original poetry — and extracts from
English periodicals and pubUcations. There Is also an
almanac published yearly, whieh. In addition to the usual
tables in such a work, contains much useful statistical
matter — lists of the various Government officers — and a
Directory both of the merchants and others In town, and
ef the farmers scattered throughout the eountry.
The population of Adelaide, according to a census taken

128
by Government early in 1841, was — males, 3430; fe
males, 3237 ; total, 6667. This was the population of
the town ; that of the suburbs, or of the viUages within
the municipality, was 1932.
Almost every one of the ordinary branches of industry
is carried on in Adelaide. There are merchants, shop
keepers (or storekeepers as is the Colonial phrase), auc
tioneers, comraission agents for land, houses, and stock,
lawyers, doctors, apothecaries, bakers, butchers, pubUcans,
lodging-house keepers, saddlers, shoemakers, tailors, bra
ziers, watchmakers, jewellers, masons, carpenters, joiners,
livery stable keepers, green grocers, coach builders, print
ers, &c. &c. &e. There are three or four distilleries in or
close to Adelaide, a brewery, two tanneries, a candle manu
factory, and no less than five steam mills for grinding
wheat. There is a lodge of Free Masons, who hold their raeet
ings in the saloon, at the theatre ; a branch of Odd-Fel
lows, who have lately erected a lodge; a Teraperance
and Rechablte Society, with a great number of members ;
and various other Friendly Associations. An agricultural
association has been formed, which holds yearly meetings
for the purpose of exhibiting stock and agricultural and
horticultural produce, prizes being given for the best speci
mens. A Uterary and scientific association and mechanics'
Institute has been for some time in existence, and is Uber
ally supported. There Is a respectable library in connec
tion with this association ; and a course of lectures Is de
livered yearly on various topics of literature and science,
and matters bearing on the prosperity and progress of the
Colony. The town and suburbs of Adelaide are placed under the
management of a raunicipal corporation, consisting of a

129
Mayor, three Aldermen, and fifteen CouncUlors. These,
with the exception of the Mayor and senior Alderman,
are elected annually. Hitherto the transactions of this
body have been few. Scarcely anything has been done
beyond the appointment of a few officers, to pay whose
salaries the Council has been involved in debt. A raar
ket has been established at Thebarton, a village close
to Adelaide, for the weekly sale of cattle and sheep;
and a slaughter-house In its neighbourhood, where
the butchers are obliged to kUl all their beasts. Beyond
this the Corporation has done but little — partly from
paucity of funds — partly from a want of knowledge as to
what Its powers were. The Council Is not very popular,
and I observe frora some of the last papers received frora
the Colony, that it has fallen into a raisunderstanding
with the Governor. They have passed some bye-laws for
regulating various matters about the town, but many of
the citizens are not very wiUing to subrait to their rules,
and there were syraptoras of a decided resistance to the
payraent of the last rate Imposed, one of 7d. In the pound.
The powers of the Corporation are rather limited — the
Governor having retained in his hand power to overrule
any of their transactions. Any regulation which raay be
passed by the Council must be laid before the Governor,
who raay cancel It altogether if he thinks proper ; so that
in the event of anything being done that might offend the
representative of the Crown, and that person possessed of
a vindictive spirit, the Town Council would become a
complete nonentity. As an instance of this I may state,
that the police force, which the citizens are to be called
on to support, is still to remain under the raanagement
of the Crown, and other things quite as absurd are con
tained in the Colonial Act under which the Council hold
office. M

130
The police of Adelaide Is a most effective and well dis
ciplined body. The town, or " metropolitan poUce" as It
was called by Governor Gawler, consists of 36 to 40
men, who perambulate the streets night and day. These
wear a uniform, and are regularly driUed by their superin
tendents, some of whom have been officers in the army.
The mounted pohce' consists of about an equal number of
active young men, well mounted ani accoutred. Their
head quarters is Adelaidei but they are intended chiefly
for the eountry districts, to prevent bushranging, cattle
stealing, &c., and a few are' stationed at the principal out
stations. The police Is, as I have said, most effective, so
that bushranging, and similar crimes, with whieh the
neighbouring Colonies are constantly -vlsltfid, are almost
unknown in South Australia. An attempt was made by
some runaway convicts at one time to- carry on a system
of bushranging, but ere many days had elapsed from the
time they committed the first crime, they were dogged
and lodged In prison, and the prompt and condign punish
ment which foSowed struck terror into the minds of aU
others who might have a disposition to commit sImUar
depredations, and bushranging has never since been heard
of in the Colony.
The laws of South Australia are more severe than those
of this country, as the statutes lately passed abolishing
capital punishments in eases of highway robbery, and the
like, do not extend to that Colony. The spirit of these
statutes is however. In most instances, carried out by the
Governor, who has the power to remit sentences ; and
although sentence of death is passed on those convicted of
highway robbery, forgery, &c., the punishment is usually
commuted to transportation for life to New South Wales,
or Van Diemen's Land. In such a case as the one I have
mentioned, however, where robbery was attended by as-

131
sault, or an attempt at murder, the extreme penalty of the
law is Inflicted.
The law Is administered in the "Colony at present by
Charles Cooper, Esq., chief (and only) judge. The Eng
lish statutes are those which apply to the Colony, The
Supreme Court is held in a building, the private property
of the judge, at the southern extreraity of the town, and
sits for the trial of civil and crirainal cases three times a
year, or oftener If necessary. Petty offences, and small
debt cases under £20, are disposed of by a paid magistrate,
who sits every raorning in a building In Currie Street.
Cases of assault, Intoxication on the streets, and such Uke,
are visited with fine or short imprisonment; such cases
as are of a more serious nature, are handed over to the
Suprerae Court. Members of the Enghsh or Scottish
Bar are permitted to practice In the Courts after a resi
dence of six months in the Colony.
Up to the middle of 1841 the police formed the only
protection the Colonists possessed. Soon after Governor
Grey's arrival in the Colony, however, a corapany of
soldiers was ordered from Van Diemen's to South Aus
traUa. The number is about eighty men, rank and file,
and three commissioned officers. These are stationed in
barracks in Adelaide, with small detachments at Port
Lincoln, and on the Murray. They have little or no
duty to perform, beyond maintaining sentinels at the jail,
at governraent house, and at their own barracks.
In enumerating the governraent offices, I neglected to
mention the Post-office, which is situated at the corner
of the North Terrace In the private residence of the
Postraaster- General. The office is open every day from
9 A.M, to 6 P,M. for the receipt and delivery of letters.
Mails are established regularly between Adelaide and dif-

132
ferent places in the country. These are mostly earried
on horseback. A raail cart carrying passengers runs
to and from the Port every day ; and weekly communi
cations are kept up between Adelaide and the following
country post-offices : — Mount Barker, Gawler Town on
the Para, Morphett Vale, Onkaparinga, WUlunga, and
Encounter Bay. The charges of postage are 8d. per
half- ounce on letters from places beyond seas, and a gra
duated scale, according to the distance, on letters posted
and delivered In the Colony.
Adelaide may be said to be the only town in South
Australia. There are a number of viUages, however,
scattered throughout the country, some of which contain
a considerable population. It was at one time a favourite
scheme to lay out a section of land as a "township," and
dispose of the land in minute portions to labourers, me
chanics, &e. In this manner alraost every district boasts
its township, although in many cases the site is only dis
cernable by a board containing Its name or the narae of sorae
of the streets, with the pegs which mark the boundaries of
the " lots." The largest of the suburban viUages are
Thebarton, Hindmarsh, and Bowden, built on three ad
joining sections of land close to the Torrens, just below
Adelaide, and on the border of the park lands. The in
habitants of these vUlages consist of mechanics, labourers,
&c,, who have houses of their own, cultivate small gar
dens, rear a few pigs and poultry, and find employraent
araong the surrounding farraers. One of the steara flour-
mills, already mentioned, is In Hindmarsh, and another in
Thebarton, The latter place also contains a tannery,
numerous brick-works, &c. There is a sraall ehurch in
Hindmarsh, in which one of the Adelaide ministers per
forms divine service occasionally.

133
Next to these are the vUlages of Walkerville, Klemzig,
and Kensington — the two former on the banks of the
Torrens, above Adelaide ; the latter on a creek to the
eastward of the town. These villages are very plea
santly situated, and contain nurabers of neat corafortable
cottages. Some of the merchants and others engaged in
business in town have places of residence in Walkerville
or Kensington.
Klemzig is a German vUlage, containing about 160
faraUies, part of a body of German Lutherans vvho
were obUged to abandon their eountry on account of per
secution for their religion, and who settled in the Colony
under the auspices of George Fife Angas, Esq., a mer
chant in London. Each faraily has a plot of land on
lease, on which they cultivate vegetables, wheat, maize,
and potatoes. Almost every family has also a few cows,
and thus the villagers lead a happy and Independent life,
and by their sobriety. Industry, and general exemplary
conduct, hold out a good exaraple to all the other Colo
nists. There Is another Gerraan village named Hahndorf,
in the Mount Barker district, after the same plan
as Klemzig, and the emigrants are employed in similar
pursuits. A third body of Gerraans reached the Colony
shortly before I left it, and were forming a settle
ment In the north, about Lyndoch Valley. These Ger
mans are the most persevering Colonists South Australia
can boast of. They are possessed of a plodding industry
and a contented disposition, which enables them to put up
with raany inconveniences at which English Settlers
would grurable, and though not so energetic as English
emigrants, they are better qualified for undergoing the
hardships of a first settlement. I used to take a pleasure
in visiting their villages from time to time, to watch the
M 5

134
slow but steady progress they made. At first they began
by digging their gardens and carrying the produce to
market, either on their backs or in hand tracks. By and
bye a German would be seen with a tmek drawn by a
Tiraor pony or a single bullock, and ere I left the Colony
many of thera had got respectable looking drays, with a
good horse or a couple of buUocks to drag them. Thus
these men who began with almost nothing, have got In
Klemzig alone 150 head of cattle, 40 horses and ponies,
and had in 1841, under cultivation, 167 acres of wheat,
56 acres of barley, 10 acres of oats, and several acres of
potatoes, besides numerous gardens. At Hahndorf their
progress and prosperity were equally satisfactory.
At each of these German vUlages there Is a church,
and the Rev. Mr. Kavel, their pastor, labours earnestly
among the villagers. The body whieh arrived last was
also acGorapanied by a minister of the gospel.
Next In Importance to the villages already mentioned,
may be named Albert Town, In the vicinity of Port
Adelaide ; Islington, on the plain below the capital ; and
Port Adelaide itself. The latter place Is little more than
a small village, the population consisting of a few ship
carpenters, fishermen, boatraen, and ship-chandlers, three
or four publicans, several shipping agents, the men em
ployed in the harbour and customs department, a couple
of butchers, a sailmaker, a blacksmith, &e. Albert Town,
which is immediately beyond the swamp which backs the
landing place, is preferred by some, whose occupation Is
at the Port, as a place of residence. This vlUage con
tains a good number of houses erected by meehanics,
fishermen, &c,, employed at the Port,
In addition to these, there is an almost innumerable
number of viUages laid out throughout the country, some

135
of which exist, as yet, only in name — others contain a
few houses, the residences probably of a carpenter, black
smith, or shoemaker. In the district around Adelaide,
there are the so-called marine township of Glenelg, the
viUages of Brighton, Marion, Riehmond, Edwardston,
MaekgiU, Chlngford, Netly, Goodwood, Payneham,
Plympton Hamlets, Welwyn, CowandiUa, New Richmond,
Twickenham, Clifton, Dublin at Morphett Vale, (parti
cularly recommended by the owner as containing an ever
lasting supply of firewood ;) Noarlanga at Onkaparinga ;
WiUunga, and the township of Encounter Bay ; a town
ship at Currency Creek ; Cannobie at Strathalbyn ;
Nairne, Balhannah, and Mount Barker, in the Mount
Barker district ; Gawler Town on the Para, Port Gawler
at do,, &c, &c.
With regard to " men and manners " In South Aus
tralia. Society flows In free and unobstructed channels.
Sociahty and conviviality are kept up araong the Colonists,
but they are not trammeUed by an excess of useless cere
mony or affectation, which impart too much of an unnatu
ral aspect to Enghsh society. Nor is there any exclu
siveness ; and although nothing can be met with approach
ing to that total disregard of civility or refinement
commonly seen In many districts of the United States,
yet there exists a frankness and an absence of all that Is
fictitious and unnecessary, that gives a greater zest to
society than if encurabered with too severe forms.
In the country this characteristic Is earried to even s
greater extent than in Adelaide ; and the almost uni
versal hospitaUty which a traveller receives from the
Settlers, seldom faUs to impress a stranger with a feeUng
of gratitude and sympathy towards those individuals,
many of whom have abandoned refined society, with all It-s

136
supposed pleasures, for the rade and humble hut or log-
house of the Bushman. But I have often seen more real
happiness and comfort in tbe Bushman's solitary dwelling
than could be found araong the votaries of pleasure, or in
the splendid raansions of wealth. The wild and almost
solitary life of a Bushman may appear to many to possess
but few charras, but I have almost invariably found the
reverse to be the case. Their Independent, and In many
cases romantic mode of Ufe, the busy and profitable em
ployment in whieh aU are engaged, combined with the
delights of a climate alraost unrivaUed, and in the midst of
a country where industry and perseverance are sure to
yield an abundance " of the good things of this life,'' pro
duce a charm to which almost every one ultiraately yields.
The ladies of Adelaide dress well, and are always on
the look out for the latest fashions frora England. The
male part of the population pay less attention to this, and
are actuated more by a desire for comfortable clothing
adapted to the weather, than by any desfre for show. In
winter the clothing Is siraUar to that in use in this coun
try ; in suramer light drUl coats, trousers of a like mate
rial, and straw-hats are commonly worn.

137

CHAP. IX.
CONCLUSION— INFORMATION FOR EMIGRANTS.

' ' The pride to rear an independent head.
And give the lips we love unborrowed bread —
To see a land from shadowy forests won.
In youthful beauty wedded to the sun-
To skirt our homes with hEu:vests widely sown.
And call the blooming landscape all our own,
Our children's heritage in prospect long —
These are the hopes, high minded hopes, and strong,
That beckon England's wanderer o'er the brine.
To lands where foreign constellations shine."

In the foregoing Chapters I have endeavoured to place
before the reader a true picture of South Australia as it
was, and as It Is. Adhering as closely as possible to a
simple detail of facts, I have endeavoured to avoid any
thing which might be constmed as puffery ; and following
out this principle, I shall now wind up this publication
with a few remarks on emigration, accompanied with a
few hints and some general Information regarding the
Colony of which this treats, intended for the use of such
as may have determined on emigrating, as well as those
who may be in quest of Information, to assist them in
making up their rainds on this important question.
People are not likely to leave their native country,
which, to every one, is associated with many endearing
recollections, unless they have sorae well grounded hope
of bettering their condition. But here I cannot help re
marking on the absurd Ideas which many emigrants Ira
bibe regarding the Colonies whieh they fix on as the seene
of their labours. These parties read a favourable — It raay
be a rather over-coloured — picture of a Colony, and there
upon form such high-flown notions regarding It as never

138
fail of being hurtful. Everything seems bright before
thera — difficulties and hardships are overlooked ; and the
consequence is, that when they arrive In the Settlement,
and find it, after all, nothing more than a portion of this
sarae globe, where not only labour — ^vigorous and persever
ing labour — but In many cases toil and hardship, must be
undergone in order to support life or secure comfort, they
are Instantly precipitated from the height to which they
had clambered In fancy to a sense of sober trath — all the
castles they had built in the air vanish — their day drearas
are at an end — they find that the streets, instead of being
paved with gold, are scarcely yet paved with what would
be more useful, though perhaps less ornamental — and In
stead of the trees bearing dollars, nothing is to be found
but large gum trees filled with chattering parrots. The
emigrant's glorious anticipations being thus disappointed,
as extreraes generally meet, he Is precipitated from one
extreme to the other — ^he cannot even look on things as
they are, but sits down Ustlessly and spends what means
he has, or immediately sets out in search of some other
El Dorada, where he hopes to be more fortunate.
Eraigrants cannot be too guarded in forming their ideas
as to their prospects in any Colony ; and first impressions
on arrival are to be equaUy guarded agdnst. Where an
emigrant sets out, not with the Idea of amassing a fortune
at will, but under the rational idea that only by patient
industry, prudence, and sobriety, wiU he succeed — disap
pointment will seldora follow. He raay not make a for
tune, but he will get for himself a good home, with the
necessaries, and raany of the comforts of life, and those
are all that human nature require, or can enjoy.
And should not tbis prove a sufficient inducement to
eraigrate with many farmers, tradesmen, and others, who

139
in this country can scarcely manage to make both ends
meet — whose Industry is cramped and overbalanced by
heavy rents and other burdens — and who struggle on
from year to year with little better prospect before them
than to receive for themselves and their chUdren, as a re
compense for their Industry and perseverance, "the parish
pittance and the pauper's grave."
To such persons, the hope
"To rear an independent bead.
And give the lips tkey love unborrowed bread,"
must surely prove a sufficient inducement to
" Seek a home in some far distant clime,"
severe though the pang may be to part with country, kin
dred, and friends.
Persons emigrating to South Australia now have many
advantages over those who have preceded thera. The
Colony Is now fairly estabhshed and stocked, and the erai
grant on his arrival has few hardships to encounter com
pared with those whieh his predecessors had to face. The
early Settlers have borne the burden and heat of the day.
They were subjected to sueh privations as the plopeers of
colonization have invariably to submit to ; but their labours
have paved the way for such as foUow them. They had
to explore tbe wilds of the untrodden forests, seeking for
suitable locations — they had to Import their stock, pro
visions, &c. from distant places, at great cost and risk—
they were unacquainted with the capacity of the soU —
ignorant even of the seasons — and laboured under many
other disadvantages which do not now exist. Newly ar
rived emigrants can now walk into a corafortable house —
can. In a very short tirae, and with Uttle trouble, fix on a
location -with buildings and improvements if they choose —
stock of everv kind is plentiful and cheap — ^the seasons are

140
known — roads intersect the country in every direction —
and therefore, coinparatively speaking, the emigrant who
lands on these shores has an easy task before him, and a
much better defined prospect as to how he can employ his
capital and industry to the best advantage.
The present depressed state of trade in Australia Is
looked on by many as discouraging to emigration, and in
jurious to the profitable investment of capital. Than this
a greater misconception could not exist. The depression,
instead of deterring people frora eraigrating, should prove
a strong induceraent to do so, especially with such as have
a little capital. Money Is now of raore value than ever It
was, and can be invested in land or stock on raore advan
tageous terras ; therefore the present crisis presents an
opportunity to sraall capitalists of obtaining land, and cat
tle or sheep to stock it, at a much sraaller outlay than at
any previous period of the history of South Australia, and
with a certanity that such land and stock wUl increase in
value as the financial distress disappears.
A reference to the priees of stock, ancl of the various
articles of every-day consumption, at present, as corapared
with the years 1839 and 1840, will distinctly show the
truth of this reasoning : —
1839-40. 1842.
Cows  £20 each. ,.. £8 to £10.
Sheep, . . . 403. to 50s. each. ... 12s. to 18s.
Horses, , . . £50 to £100. ... £20 to £40.
Flour, , . £50 to £80 per ton. ... £20 to £24.
Bread, . . 2s. to 3s. the loaf, ... 8d. to lOd.
Butcher meat, , , Is. per lb. ... 4d.
Potatoes, .... 4d. to 6d. ... Id.
Butter, .... 2s. to 3s. 6d. ... Is. 3d. to Is 6d.
House rent lOs. for a miserable cottage ... 2s. to 4s. for «
comfortable one.
It is unnecessary to carry the comparison farther.

141
Suffice it to say that most other articles have fallen in
price in an equal proportion.
^ Now notwithstanding the present depressed state of
trade in this country, capital is superabundant, and avail
able channels for Investment are few. The Colonies afford
a favourable and extensive field in this respect, by which
the surplus capital of Britain may be drawn off, and safely
and profitably employed in a manner doubly useful, In
asmuch as that which Is withdrawn from corapetition will
be the means of rendering more valuable that which re
raains In the raother country.
The pursuits In which capitalists may find an outlet
for their property are nuraerous In South AustraUa
Sheep, cattle, and agricultural farming, cultivation of the
vine and other fruits and products, mining, whale fishing,
&c., are pursuits in which capital may be Invested with
safety and to advantage ; and as the Colony advances,
other openings will present themselves. Mercantile pur
suits, judiciously managed, will yield good returns,
although at present there is quite a sufficiency of persons-
engaged In coraraerce for the state of the Colony. Money
Invested In land or stock will yield good interest,
as frora 8 to 10 per cent, can easily be got on
mortgage security. The banks give seyen per cent, on
capital lodged for a period of twelve months. Persons
might therefore derive a good Income from the Interest of
a few thousand pounds, without entering into any active
eraployment, or running any risk.
But small capitaUsts, especially practical farraers, are
probably better adapted for the Colony than any other
class, and the inducements held out to them are — a pro
ductive soil, cheap land, and plenty of elbow room.
Land is sold, as previously stated, by publie auction, the^

142
upset price being One Pound per acre ; and In the Inter
val between the quarterly sales any land whieh may have
remained unsold can be taken off at the upset priee. A4 a
there is abundance of land surveyed In South Australia,
emigrants will find no difficulty In making a purchase at
any time. The Colonization coraraissioners in London,
and their agents throughout the country, receive money
intended for the purchase of land, and give orders on the
local government to the amount lodged, which orders are
taken as money in the Colony. The only advantage of
this arrangement is, tbat it affords a safe medium for re
mitting the money to the Colony without charge for ex
change ; but It must be borne in mind, that the money so
lodged with the Coramissioners can only be applied for
the purchase of land — the emigrant cannot get specie for
his order In the Colony, unless he can dispose of It to
some other party.
Should the emigrant not feel disposed to purchase land,
or should his means not permit his doing so, he can obtain
a farm on lease at a cheap rate. The usual rental for un
improved farms is from 3s. to 5s. per annura per acre ; but
of course this varies according to the description of land,
the locality, &c.
The South AustraUan Company, which has already been
frequently alluded toi hold out many inducements to persons
possessed of liraited capital, to settle as tenants under their
auspices. The Corapany own a great surface of country
lands, which they let on twenty-one year leases, to re
spectable farraers, at a sraall yearly rental — the tenant
having the privilege to purchase the farm at any time
during the lease, at a reasonable priee, which is fixed at
the tirae of taking the lease. The directors in the con
tracts for leases entered into in this country, engage that

143
the tenant shall have submitted to his choice on arrival in
the Colony, five portions of land, each equal In extent
to the quantity contracted for; and, should the tenant
not be satisfied with any of these, he may cancel the con
tract. The Company also assist their tenants. If necessary,
with an advance of capital, to be expended in iraprove
ments on the farm. They have already leased about 9000
acres of country land, so that there Is a pretty numerous
tenantry established in the province under their auspices,
and a beginning made in forming an agricultural popula
tion of the most promising character. The husbandry
operations of the Company's tenantry will be seen from
the following table, which shows the land they had under
crop last season, t. e. in 1 842 :- —
Wheat, (acres)  1602
Barley,  358
Oats  76
Alaize, ....... 80
2116
The value of the crops from the above, at a very
moderate calculation as to quantity, and not higher than
5s. per bushel for wheat and oats, and 4s. per bushel for
barley and maize, amounts to upwards of £10,000.
Subjoined is an account of the market prices at the
latest date received from the Colony : —
Wheat, 7s. 6d. to 9s. per bushel ; fine flour, £22 to
£24 per ton ; second flour £20 per ton ; bread, 8d. to
lOd. per four pound loaf; beef, 3^d, to 4^d, per pound ;
mutton, 3d. to 4^d. per pound ; potatoes, £8 to £10 per
ton, or Id. per pound ; eggs. Is. 3d. to Is. 6d per dozen ;
fresh butter, Is. 3d. per lb. ; cheese, 9d. to Is. per pound ;
vegetables during winter are plentiful and cheap — say

144
green peas. Is. 6d. per peek ; cabbages, one penny each ;
cauUflowers from 2d. to 3d. each ; earrots, 3d. per bunch ;
turnips, 2d. to 3d. per bunch ; raddlshes. Id. per dozen ;
onions, 2d. per bunch ; and all other kinds of vegetables
equally cheap. Clothing, and other articles imported from
Britain or other countries, are In raost cases high priced.
The Important articles of tea and sugar must be excepted,
however, as these are Iraported on a smaU duty, and are
consequently cheaper than in England.
To mechanics, labourers, &c., it is necessary to say but
little. In such a Colony as that under consideration, it
will be evident to every one, that a working man has
prospects very much superior to what they are in this
country. I think it bnt justice to state, however, that
at the time I left the Colony, labour of every descrip
tion was plentiful, and, with some exceptions, continued
to be so, up till the date of the latest accounts I have
received. But good shepherds, and persons acquainted
with pastoral and agricultural pursuits, will never carry
their industry to a bad market In South Australia. The
rapid Increase of stock of all kind, shows that a con
stant Influx of shepherds, &c.. Is necessary, even with
out taking into account the numerous capitalists who
are monthly arriving, and creating farther demands for
servants. The supply of free labour will always be regu
lated according to the sales of land, as one-half of the
purchase money is devoted to the laudable purpose of
conveying raechanics and others to the Colony free of
expense. So soon as the present Land Sales Act has
been fairly established in the Colony, and funds derived
therefrom, her Majesty's Commissioners will be in a
position again to grant free passages to the Colony.
So many books and pamphlets have lately been pub-

145
lished, giving information regarding the selection of ships
and the necessaries for the voyage, that a very few re
raarks on these subjects wUl suffice here.
The Act of Parliament passed during the session of
1 842, " for regulating the carriage of passengers in mer
chant vessels," secures many advantages to passengers
more effectually than the exertions of private individuals
could do. By this Act, the nuraber of passengers allowed
to be taken on board any ship, Is liraited according to her
tonnage, by such regulations as wUl secure the eraigrants
frora any inconvenience from crowding, and the import
ant considerations of sufficient height between decks and
proper ventilation, are also legislated upon. It Ukewise
renders it imperative on the owners or charterers to pro
vide a sufficient supply of provisions, water, raedical stores
and instmments, and medical attendance.
In fixing on a ship, passengers would do well, If prac
ticable, to inspect the vessel personally, and to choose
their own cabins or berths ; and an agreeraent should be
got frora the owners or brokers in writing, specifying
the quantity and quaUty of the provisions and water to
be allowed them, the day on which The vessel is to sail,
&c., as some unprincipled shipowners and shipmasters
pay no attention to verbal agreements, and once out at
sea no redress can be obtained. Caution should there
fore be observed, in selecting a conveyance, to treat
with parties of known respectability ; and mechanics and
labourers will find the Government Eraigration Agent a
valuable and trustworthy friend In giving advice.
The cost of a first cabin passage to South Australia
is usually about £50 to £60; seeond or Interraediate
cabins, £30 to £40 eaeh person; steerage, from £15 to
£20. The rates of passage raoney have been consider-
N 5

146
ably reduced of late, and It is probable a still farther re
duction will take place.
Interraediate and steerage passengers wiU find a small
quantity of extra stores add to there comfort, such as a
few cases of preserved meats, cheese, ham, or bacon, &c.
A filter Is very useful on board ship, as the water fre
quently gets bad; and a supply of carbonate of soda and
tartaric acid will be found valuable In the warm latitudes.
Passengers must find themselves in bedding, &c., and
as little or no washing can be done on board, a good
supply of serviceable clothing, not easily soUed, will be
found necessary, and will prove useful after arrival. A
small quantity of marine soap should also be laid in.
Cleanliness and regularity are essentiaUy requisite on
board ship, both for comfort and the preservation of
health; and every eare should be taken to raaintain a
good understanding with fellow passengers, as, on so long
a voyage, and with little to engage the attention, discord
is very apt to creep in, and mar the harraony of the pas
sengers. Many means of amusement wUl be found, and
persons may improve themselves in various ways where
they have so rauch leisure tirae. Singing, reading, and
gymnastic exercises, are often resorted to; and in fine
weather, a dance on the quarter-deck often enlivens the
evening. In conclusion, let me again press on the earnest con
sideration of all intending emigrants the foUowing admo
nitions : — Beware of Indulging too sanguine anticipations
— avoid the rock of fortune making, on whieh too many
eraigrants split — go steadily and energetically to work
in carrying out your plans — confine yourselves to strict
economy — labour patiently and industriously — and live
soberly. These are absolutely requisite in order to ob-

147
tain a living in Britain — they are not less necessary In
South Australia, or In any of the British Colonies,
although in the latter the reward wiU unquestionably
be greater than in the former.
Should these pages prove the means of assisting any
of my fellow-countrymen to amend their condition, it
will be to me a source of much gratification, and I
will rejoice should I, at any future period in my wan
derings through South Australia, raeet with a prosper
ous faraily who have been in any way assisted by ray
experience. As a colonist, I wUl be happy to see South Austra
lia prosper, by an Influx of emigrants from the mother
country. As a raember of the same human faraily, I
will be gratified to see individuals and famihes removed
from poverty and want to plenty and independence. If,
on the other hand, any single individual should, after
reading these pages, determine on eraigrating, and be
disappolntedj it will be to me a subject of extreme regret,
but I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I have
conscientiously spoken the truth; and If any emigrant
look for more than I have said he Is likely to receive,
h« will have himself to blame, not me.

APPENDIX.

While the preceding Chapters were in course of passing
through the press, news has been received from South
Australia up to the end ofthe year 1842, and some items
of intelligence are so Important, as bearing on the facts
adduced in the foregoing pages, that it has been considered
proper to add them in the form of an appendix : —
Wool fob the Home Mabket. — In this, the sixth year of our
colonial existence, the clip of the season will be little short of from
300,000 to 330,000 fleeces.— Sou/A Australian Register, Nov., 1842.
SUCCESSFUL MINING OPERATIONS IN SOUTH
AUSTRALIA.
{From the South Australian Register, Nov., I84^2.)
A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of stating, that the proprie
tors of the "Wheal Gawler Lead Mines" were so encouraged liy
the report of Mr Robert Stagg, of the Governor and Company's
oifice, Middleton, Teesdale, Durham, on the quality of the lead and
silver ore found upon their estate, that they had determined to pur
sue their mining operations upon a more extensive scale than ever.
That pleasure is, however, considerably heightened by the fact,
that since the above announcement was made, four distinct lodes of
exceedingly rich metal have been found at Glen Osmond, on the
property of Osmond Gilles, Esq., our late Colonial Treasurer, a
circumstance not altogether conclusive of the fact, perhaps, but one
which certainly justifies us in supposing that the whole range of hills
from the neighbourhood of Adelaide up to Cape Jervis, is one con
tinued succession of valuable mineral deposit.
Unwilling, in a matter of such grave importance to the country,
to take the testimony of a second person on the subject, we made a
yisit in person to Glen Osmond yesterday, and, from having seen
somewhat of the indications of yaluable mines in the counties of
Durham and Cumberland some years ago, we should say that those
on Mr GiUes' estate exceed the reasonable expectations of the least

149
sanguine of miners. So near the surface is the ore deposited, that
one of the lodes is already laid bare upwards of a quarter of a mile
from the base towards the summit of the hill, the indications through
out the whole of this continuous line being of the most satisfactory
and encouraging nature. Of the remaining lodes, it is sufiicient for
the present to say, that their appearances are equally promising,
although the workmen have not yet succeeded in laying them bare
to the same extent. Every one at all acquainted with mining oper
ations in the province, and hitherto a visitant to Glen Osmond, has
expressed himself in terms of unbounded confidence in reference to
the discovery, and has predicted its immense ultimate advantages,
first to Mr Gilles and his family, and next to the Colony.
The average silver procured from the ore of the ' ' Wheal G awler"
lead mines was twenty-four ounces per ton — that is to say, value for
£6, 10s. sterling— and the same may be predicated, not only of the
Glen Osmond, but of other mines to which the present discovery
will, doubtless, inevitably lead. Of the working of these mines on
a small scale paying the present proprietors, and that handsomely
too, there is no manner whatever of doubt ; but to subordinate
them as much as possible to the general interests of the Colony, we
are anxious to see the operations connected with them conducted
upon a scale altogether beyond the reach of any two or three private
Colonists, however influential their position, or successful their for
mer enterprises.
CULTIVATED LAND.
(From the South Australian Register, Nov. 1842.)
" The following is an abstract of returns of the quantity of land
at present under cultivation in the Colony, as published in last
week's oificial Gazette : —
Number of Acres returned as in Cultivation in the Province of
South Australia on the 19th October, 1842 :—
Acres of Wheat, - - - - 13,892
Barley, .... 2,666
Oats, . . - . 691
Maize, - - - 846
Potatoes, - - 689
Turnips and other green crops, - 229
Oarden ground, &c., - 626
19,641

150
The number of proprietors returned for the above quantity of
cultivated land, 873,
To the above may be added the fact, that we have at this moment,
gracing upon our hills and plains, from 350,000 to 400,000 sheep,
from 2000 to 2500 horses, and from 25,000 to 30 flOO head of homed
cattle, besides pigs, goats, and sundry stock, all in the greatest
abundance, and that, too, on a spot which, five years ago, was an
unexplored wilderness. In addition to the above, our exports of
wool, oil, whalebone, hides, seal-skins, and so forth, were last year
estimated at £50,000, but, with our export of grain of the present
season's growth, they will this year at least double, if not treble,
the amount. In this, we are making no over.sanguine calculations,
our statements being based upon authentic statistical returns.
There are large steam flour mills, and one windmill now grinding
corn at Is. and Is. 6d. per bushel; there are several more building.
It will be seen from the above returns that the estimate
I had formed of the amount of land undier crops has been
far more than realised.
The following is an Extract of a Letterfrom a Farmer in South
Australia, dated 1st November, 1842.
" The state of the Colony is most fiourishing. We have every
thing to superabundance, and are exporting many articles, as butter,
cheese, bark, &c., and shortly shall send quantities of wheat and
flour to Sydney and the Mauritius.
" The season has been remarkably favourable for all agricultural
purposes, as we have had rain every fortnight or ten days since
March last to the present day ; we' haye not, in &ct, had above
three warm days together Ihis spring, thoagh in the plains they had
one hot wind that placed the crops in jeopardy, but rain falling the
night after, many of them have been reinstated by it. The wool
promises to be very good this season, there being no dust to soil the
fleece after washing as there generally is. The wool, oil, wheat,
and dairy produce will bring a large sum into the Colony this year,
and we shall require, I hope, to pay little out of it. This is now
one of the cheapest places to live in that can be found inthe Queen's
dominions. Our greatest want is domestic servants. I think that
the most of the really useful labourers are in constant employment ;
those who make so great a figure on the public works are a set of
useless creatures who were a pest at home, and continue a nuisance
here, and ought never to have been palmed upon us at all. Almost

151
all the Irish are of that class. They can do but few things, and
those most inefficiently, and are always discontented, and wanting
larger pay, and more priyileges than any other people ; there is
scarcely any settler will take them when they have tried a few of
them . I have this year 57 acres of wheat, and 9 of barley sown, 10
of potatoes, and 3 or 4 of Cobbett's maize. We have broken up
about 40 acres more for next year. The cattle increase most
rapidly.Extract ofa Letterfrom Mr. W. B. Randell, dated Sept. 12, 1842.
"I have no doubt but this season South Australia will producc
nearly, if not quite, three times as much grain (wheat in particu
lar) as will be required for its consumption for the ensuing year.
We have every thing in the greatest abundance here that the neces
saries of man require. Wheat 8s. per bushel; barley 4s. 6d. to
5s. ; beef and mutton 4d. per lb. ; and as good as the best in the
world; I myself sell wholesale at less than 3d. per lb. the best
bullocks and sheep. Our steers, under three years old, average
from six to seven cwt. ; our sheep (wethers) two years old, about
60 lbs. each, and the quality of both as good as I have ever seen
in any part of the world. My sales of cattle amount from twenty
to thirty head per month, and above 200 sheep for some time past."
NEW DISCOVERIES.
(From the Southern Australian.-)
Mr. Deputy Surveyor-General Burr has discovered a splendid
track of country to the northward and eastward of Flinder's Range.
The new country (which is described as like Mount Barker Dis
trict) commences on the east side of Flinder's Range, proceeding
about north from Crystal Brook, and it is of very considerable
extent. It is well wooded, for the most part with white gums,
and in the low country some casuarina. The grass is of the best
sort, and very thick. The supply of water is abundant, and of
excellent quality, in some of the smaller gullies trickling over the
rocks, and in the larger ones forming large water holes in swamps
surrounded with high reeds. The country teems with cockatoos
and other birds, and the natiyes are very numerous — both indica
tions of good country. The land is admirably adapted for flocks
and herds, and we believe the discoverer considers, from the
appearanoe of the ranges to the north and east as seen from
Mount Arden, that the good country will be found to extend
in that direction to a very great distance.

152
To the eastward of Campbell's Bange, much excellent country
has also been discovered. This range is situated immediately be
hind the Broughton River, and to the eastward of it the country,
although thinly wooded (there being only the casuarina, and that
very sparingly scattered about,) it is said to be well adapted for
sheep or eattle, there being plenty of grass, and » good supply of
water. These discoveries are of vast importance to the province, show-
•feig, as they do, that the good land is not so limited in its extent
as was generally supposed.
The H.\evest. — The harvest has now commenced in earnest
in the district of Adelaide, all the early crops of wheat being ripe,
and several fields having already been cut down. AU the crops
look remarkably weU, scarcely any smut being visible except in
those which were sown late. The specimens of grain with which
we have been favoured are quite equal to any we have seen in Mark
Lane  Southern Australian, Nov. 15.
Willunga District. — The weather has continued very favour
able for the crops. The wheat harvest will soon be on. A few
spots of smut have made their appearance, but the crops wiU ba
much better than last year. The wheat is better eared than last
year. The late high winds have beat down some of the heavy
erops, yet not to do much injury. The maize is much improved
and looking well; the millet is not doing so weU in consequence
ofthe seed not having been sufficiently ripe. — Correspondent of the
Southern Australian, Nov. 22.
South Austbalian Butteb.— A gentleman who has recently
received a present of a smaU cask of butter from Adelaide, sent
us a couple of pounds by way of sample, on Saturday, and we must
say that we have not tasted better butter for many years. It is supe
rior to the general run of the butter sold in Sydney — equal, in fact,
to Glenlee, Belmont, and other first-rate quaUties. Our Southern
friends may be proud of their dairies.— Sydney Herald.

PaiNTED IN IHS STISLINQ OBSEBVEIi OFFICE.

YALE UNIVEHSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 03258 0541