Our First Half-Century Part 13

The popular sentiment was, however, overwhelmingly in favour of the White Australia policy; and even most of its opponents took exception to the hasty methods of enforcement rather than to the principle itself. Much difficulty was at first experienced in securing reliable white workers, but the remuneration year by year attracted, in increasing numbers, men accustomed to farm work, until, in 1908-9, the owners of about 90 per cent. of the cane grown found themselves in a position to claim the bounty. Pacific Island labour is now almost a thing of the past, though a few islanders who were not repatriated still engage in field work. In the more severely tropical of the sugar districts some Asiatic labour is also employed, the planters alleging that white men will not, unless at prohibitory wages, face the muggy heat of the cane-brake. The bounty, together with the 6 import duty, appears at length to have re-established the industry on a durable basis; but many growers look forward with some apprehension to the gradual extinction of the bounty and the possibility of a reduction in the import duty, holding that without the protection at present afforded Australian cane sugar cannot compete against the product of the cheap coloured labour of Java, Fiji, and Mauritius, or the beet sugar of Europe.

A further objection to federation was found in the mode adopted of distributing the Federal surplus revenue among the States. The 87th section of the Const.i.tution required that for ten years the Federal Government should not expend on its own purposes more than one-fourth of the net Customs and Excise revenue of the Commonwealth, and that the balance of such revenue should be returned to the States. Prior to federation this had been interpreted to mean that each State would receive back not less than three-fourths of the net Customs and Excise revenue collected within its jurisdiction. But the Commonwealth Crown law officers placed a different construction on the section, and held that, so long as at least three-fourths of the net Customs revenue was distributed collectively, the Commonwealth had no obligation to return that proportion to any individual State. This has caused great uncertainty and embarra.s.sment to the Queensland Treasurer, and has impelled many public men to stigmatise the union as a curse instead of a blessing.

In ill.u.s.tration of the unequal division of the surplus Federal revenue among the States, it may be mentioned that, according to a table published by the Commonwealth Auditor-General, while the aggregate sum beyond the three-fourths of Customs and Excise revenue returned to the States amounted to 6,059,087, Queensland actually received 44,951 less than her three-fourths during the eight and a-half years ended 30th June, 1909; and her Treasurer was much embarra.s.sed by the uncertainty of the return owing to tariff alterations and the determination of the Federal Government to defray from revenue otherwise accruing to the State under the Const.i.tution Act the cost of permanent buildings, which the State had formerly provided for out of loan moneys.

Another grievance of the States--especially of Queensland, which borrowed largely to construct its 10,253 miles of telegraph lines, and incurred a heavy annual charge upon revenue in providing postal communication throughout its vast and scantily populated territory--is that the Commonwealth Government treat section 85 of the Const.i.tution as a dead letter. This provision expressly enacts that "the Commonwealth shall compensate the State for the value of any property pa.s.sing to the Commonwealth under this section"; but not a penny of compensation has ever been paid, although there is a considerable interest charge to be met annually by the State Treasuries on account of money borrowed for the purposes of these transferred properties.

The chief revenue loss suffered by the Queensland Treasury under federation arose from the pa.s.sing of the uniform tariff, which drew considerably less than the former State tariff from the pockets of the taxpayers. Of course the remedy had to be sought in other taxation, and it could only be found in direct levies much more objectionable than the indirect charge imposed by Customs duties. However, the feat was ultimately accomplished, despite the depressed condition of the State through years of scanty rainfall and the enormous losses of live stock consequent thereon; but successive State Governments have had to bear much unmerited odium and have suffered in popularity on account of their efforts to restore financial equilibrium when the princ.i.p.al disturbing element was the advent of federation and not State mismanagement.

Since times began to improve throughout Australia, the Federal burden has been less in evidence; and at the late Melbourne Conference, held to confer with the Commonwealth Government with the view to adjust mutual relations, no State Premier recognised more frankly than did Mr. Kidston the claims of the Federal Government to increased revenue to defray the cost of old-age pensions, naval and military defence, and other great national objects. The provisional agreement entered into by the Conference was recognised by all the Premiers as less advantageous than they had desired, but they were unanimous in admitting that under the altered conditions it was the best they could now hope for. On the Commonwealth side it was recognised that the States had made a large voluntary surrender, and that the position of the Federal Treasury would be greatly strengthened under the operation of the agreement. The apparent dread of diminishing Customs revenue in after years was clearly not well founded, because the Commonwealth Parliament can easily, by readjustment of duties, make up any deficiency. On the other hand, an immense advantage will be gained by both parties to the agreement from the separation of Federal and State finances except in respect of the liability of the Commonwealth to hand over, and the right of the States to receive, a fixed annual contribution of 25s. per head of the population. The representatives of the States granted a further concession to the Commonwealth by permitting the retention of an additional 600,000 of the Customs revenue for the current year to reimburse the cost of old-age pensions not already provided for by the Commonwealth Trust Fund created by the Surplus Revenue Act of 1908. The bill embodying the agreement received the approval of the statutory majority in both Houses of Parliament.

It now rests with the electors of the Commonwealth to accept or reject the necessary amendment of the Const.i.tution; and there is every reason to hope that the compact will be made as permanent as any other part of the Const.i.tution. In that event, the relations between Commonwealth and States will undoubtedly improve, and harmonious co-operation for the public welfare may be safely antic.i.p.ated from the Parliaments.

The Federal session of 1909 has been distinguished by the pa.s.sage of epoch-making bills for the appointment of a High Commissioner in London and for naval and military defence, measures which are calculated to raise the Commonwealth to an exalted position in the scale of young nations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: QUEENSLAND 1859]

[Ill.u.s.tration: QUEENSLAND 1909]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUSTRALIA 1859 SHOWING SELF-GOVERNING COLONIES]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WORLD Showing relative position of AUSTRALIA.]

PART IV.--THE PRIMARY INDUSTRIES.

CHAPTER I.

THE PASTORAL INDUSTRY.

Importance of Industry.--Small Beginnings in New South Wales.--Extension of Industry.--Stocking of Darling Downs and Western Queensland.--Rush for Pastoral Lands.--Difficulties of Early Squatters.--Influx of Victorian Capital.--Changes in Method of Working Stations.--Boom in Pastoral Properties.

--Checks from Drought.--Discovery of Artesian Water.

--Conservation of Surface Water.--Introduction of Grazing Farm System.--Closer Settlement of Darling Downs.

--Cattle-Rearing.--Meat-Freezing Works.--Overstocking.

--Dairying.--Station Routine.--Charm of Pastoral Life.

--Shearing.--Hospitality of Squatters.--Attraction of Industry as Investment and Occupation.

The pastoral industry in Queensland is, in point of duration, well within the compa.s.s of a single life. In about seventy years it has attained its present dimensions, and, as progress in the early years was very slow, its magnitude to-day supplies striking testimony to the energy and enterprise of two generations. The description of Queensland as a huge sheep and cattle farm with contributive industries, which without very great extravagance might have been offered forty years ago, has long ceased to be applicable. But though other industries have grown into importance, reducing its pre-eminence, the pastoral still retains its unquestioned lead and is deservedly regarded as the main source of the State's wealth. Bearing in mind that the total exports from Queensland for 1907 were rather over fourteen and a-half millions sterling, of which pastoral produce claimed more than half, it will be seen that this t.i.tle to precedence cannot be challenged. With an abatement of 529,000 for b.u.t.ter--dairying being a.s.sociated with agriculture--this imposing sum is the direct product of the natural gra.s.ses. It can hardly be surprising then, after realising the potential wealth of these pastures, that visitors should be struck with the fact that rainfall--past, present, and prospective--is a constant and very prominent topic in all grades of social intercourse.

That a continent so suited to the abundant propagation of animal life should have been so poorly equipped by Nature with an indigenous fauna can only be accounted for by Australia's primeval isolation. Similar vast prairie lands, which in America sustained countless herds of bison and in Africa literally swarmed with antelope and many species of game, were in Australia almost uninhabited. The absence of large rivers and a general scarcity of water had doubtless much to do with this dest.i.tute condition of the great pasture lands of the interior, but still the wonder remains that a continent which now carries more sheep than any other country in the world should have been in its original state, except along its coastal belt, almost tenantless. The fierce carnivora of the older world were entirely unrepresented, the princ.i.p.al denizen of the lonely land being the timid kangaroo; but the curious problems presented by the Australian fauna have compensated the naturalist for its modest numbers.

In Queensland what is recognised as the Western Interior occupies about half the area of the State and is distinct in its geological formation from the coastal belt, the waters of which run into the ocean to the east and north. The region of these watersheds, with the exception of some comparatively limited areas of downs country on the heads of the rivers, is regarded as unsuitable for sheep, the rainfall being more abundant than on the Western waters and the gra.s.s coa.r.s.er, so that cattle are almost exclusively run there. In the Western Interior are the true sheep pastures. The farther one goes west the more treeless the country becomes. Here undulating downs for the most part stretch to the horizon, intersected by watercourses fringed with timber, and although in summer many of these creeks shrink to a chain of disconnected waterholes, few of which are permanent, they offer abundant opportunities for water conservation. In the last few years many for several miles of their course have been converted into running streams by artesian bores.

Before, however, dwelling on the present position, we must briefly glance at the origin of pastoral enterprise in Australia and its tardy extension to Queensland.

As soon as settlement was established, the new land had to be stocked with the domesticated animals of the old. Captain Phillip, the first Governor, in 1788 made a very modest start. He brought with him from England 7 horses, 7 cattle, and 29 sheep, besides pigs, rabbits, and poultry. Remembering that in those days England was from six to nine months distant from the new settlement, it is not perhaps surprising that pastoral progress was slow. In 1800 there were only 6,124 sheep and 1,044 cattle in Australia. But five years prior to this the seed destined to produce a giant growth was already germinating. A shrewd young soldier had detected the germ of Australia's future wealth.

With a strange prescience, unaided by experience, Captain Macarthur recognised that the dry climate of Australia was peculiarly adapted to the growth of a fine type of wool. Starting from most unpromising ewes from India, he gradually improved the strain by the introduction of Spanish blood. He was fortunate at the start in getting three rams from the Cape, part of a gift from the King of Spain to the Dutch Government, and by sedulous culling with a bold disregard for carca.s.s, although fat wethers at the time sold for 5, he succeeded in establishing a good merino flock the wool from which created an excellent impression in England. English manufacturers, who had hitherto drawn their limited stocks of clothing wool from Spain, welcomed the promise of a new source of supply.

Macarthur had taken some wool with him to England, when deported in consequence of a fatal duel in 1803, and its fine quality was at once recognised and appreciated. He was fortunate in being still there in the following year, when George the Third, in the hope of encouraging the production of fine wool, sold a portion of his Kew stud flock, the progeny of Negretti sheep, another gift of the Spanish King, so that they might be distributed amongst his subjects. Macarthur was the princ.i.p.al buyer, securing seven rams and a ewe at very moderate prices, the highest being under 30. He was an enthusiast, and could see the enormous possibilities of the virgin continent he had left, with its mild dry climate and almost limitless pasture lands, for the maintenance of great flocks, the wool of which could be improved to the finest type. He asked the British Government for a grant of land to feed his flocks, a.s.suring them that he was "so convinced of the practicability of supplying this country with any quant.i.ty of fine wool that it may require that I am earnestly solicitous to prosecute this important object, and on my return to New South Wales will devote my whole attention to accelerating its complete attainment." This request--in spite of the adverse opinion of Sir Joseph Banks as to the suitability of the new land for wool-growing--was granted, Lord Camden instructing the Governor of New South Wales to grant Macarthur such lands "as would enable him to extend his flocks in such a degree as may promise to supply a sufficiency of animal food for the colony as well as a lucrative article of export for the support of our manufactures at home." Macarthur selected near Mount Taurus, and the Camden estate, long famous as the source from which many studs were either formed or replenished, was established. How limited at this time was the world's production of this superfine wool--suited to the manufacture of the finest fabrics--may be gathered from the fact of one bale of Macarthur's being sold at Garraway's Coffee House in 1807 at 10s. 6d. per lb., the cloth from which provided England's Farmer King with a coat.

But not till the merino had pa.s.sed beyond coastal influences was the improvement of growth due to an eminently suitable habitat fully realised. Wentworth and others had in 1813 pushed across the Blue Mountains, and the occupation of the interior began. In the Mudgee district, which was stocked with sheep about 1824, the clip improved so distinctly on the original Spanish stock as to form almost a new type. Increasing in length and gaining in softness and elasticity, it has commanded ever-increasing attention from manufacturers, and has long been recognised as the premier fine wool of the world.

Tasmania, starting with Macarthur's stock, and following on his breeding lines, had proved peculiarly adapted for the growth of a dense fleece of fine wool. As numbers rapidly increased in this small island, flockmasters had to look about for an outlet. This was easily found on the mainland, and sheep were soon pouring across the narrow strait into the district of Port Phillip, which in 1851 was proclaimed the colony of Victoria.

After Macarthur's death in 1834, his system of breeding was carefully followed by his widow, and when in 1858 the flock was dispersed the stud ewes numbered about 1,000. These, pa.s.sing into the hands of flockmasters of New South Wales and Victoria, were the foundation of many of the noted studs of to-day. The Victorian flocks, starting from the Tasmanian, early competed with the island of their origin in excellence, and, though Tasmania still maintains its reputation as the home from which the studs of the other States are constantly replenished, it has of late years gone largely into crossbreds. The most noted studs, however, are still maintained undefiled, except that the introduction of the American Vermont blood has been in some cases cautiously tried, with results that have provoked much controversy.

Other pioneers of the industry, the Rev. Samuel Marsden for one, started with the same Spanish blood, crossed with the hardy and prolific Indian ewe, but unlike Macarthur they found the temptations of the fat stock market irresistible. Remembering the great price fat wethers commanded in those early days, it must be admitted that the temptation was considerable. Macarthur, however, by steadily rejecting all mutton breeds and making a fine description of fleece his one object, deserves grateful recognition as the founder of the Australian merino.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FAT CATTLE, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CATTLE COUNTRY, WEST MORETON]

Although the settlement of Moreton Bay was started in 1824, it was long before the pastoral industry made any progress in the territory which is now Queensland. In that year Governor Brisbane sent Oxley to explore Moreton Bay and report on its suitability for a convict out-station. From information given by two white castaways living with the blacks, he found the river which Cook in 1770 and Flinders ten years later had failed to discover--though both, confident of its existence, had spent days in the Bay searching for its embouchure.

Sheep and cattle were sent as supplies. But in a few years the settlement was abandoned, the officials and prisoners returning to New South Wales; and in 1842, when Moreton Bay was proclaimed a free settlement, the Government live stock were dispersed by sale amongst the settlers. Blacks were numerous and very hostile, and, though cattle throve well, the country was found unsuitable for sheep, so that expansion from the Moreton district was very slow.

But already in 1827 one man had been favoured with a glimpse of what is still regarded as the garden of Queensland. Allan Cunningham, starting from the Hunter, had pushed steadily North for 500 miles till he emerged from the broken highlands of New England on to the famous Downs which he named after Sir Charles Darling. He was enraptured with the country, which he described as clothed "with gra.s.ses and herbage exhibiting an extraordinary luxuriance of growth." Yet it was thirteen years before anyone took advantage of his discovery. To a later generation acquainted with the great value of the lands, which as a distinguished botanist Cunningham could not have failed to recognise, this appears one of the most astounding facts in the history of exploration. Many a time he must have discoursed to his friend Patrick Leslie on the rich vision he had been privileged to look on, yet it was not till 1840 that the latter with a small flock followed in his footsteps. What increases the surprise at this apparently strange lack of enterprise is that the year after Cunningham had found the Darling Downs he visited Moreton Bay, and succeeded in crossing the range from the coast by a gap since known by his name and reached the vicinity of his old camp, thus demonstrating that the natural port of this rich region was little over a hundred miles distant. Leslie, who settled in the neighbourhood of where the flourishing town of Warwick now stands, was rapidly followed by others who established the fine squattages that have since become famous. Although a few sheep had previously been introduced in the Moreton district, Leslie and his confreres must be regarded as the fathers of sheep-farming in Queensland.

Difficulties of carriage long r.e.t.a.r.ded any attempt to occupy the splendid territory farther West which Sir James Mitch.e.l.l had explored in 1846 and Kennedy had farther penetrated a year later, crossing the Barcoo and discovering the Thomson River. Though the existence of these vast rolling plains was known, the presumption that no industry requiring a fair amount of labour could pay, handicapped with five to six hundred miles of land carriage, checked any attempt to occupy them. Nor was this unreasonable. The difficulties and uncertainties of such an undertaking might well prompt hesitation. Yet, in view of the rich returns from flocks elsewhere, it was impossible that these solitudes should for very long await easier conditions. A few adventurous spirits pushed out to these great undulating plains. Their example was quickly followed. In the early sixties a general migration westward began, and wherever water was met with the country was taken up. In 1869 an Act was pa.s.sed granting 21-year leases to applicants who had taken up areas and stocked them to the extent of twenty-five sheep or five cattle to the square mile. It was found that on these Western pastures, rich with succulent gra.s.ses and saline shrubs all the year round, and in winter abounding in herbage of many descriptions, all stock grew and fattened amazingly. The climate, too, falsified all predictions, and instead of converting the wool to hair, which experts had prognosticated as the inevitable result of an ardent summer, grew an excellent fleece of fine l.u.s.trous combing wool. A frantic rush for country set in. Flocks and herds were hurried out by jealous owners anxious to forestall one another in the scramble for leases. In a few years the whole territory, except where absence of water forbade settlement, was parcelled out in sheep and cattle runs.

It had not yet been recognised how country dest.i.tute of surface water could be utilised. On these neglected areas are now many prosperous sheep-runs, the pioneers little suspecting the inexhaustible supplies awaiting the magic touch of the boring-rod to provide the abundant streams they longed for.

With such easy conditions of tenure and lands of unsurpa.s.sable quality for grazing, it might naturally be expected that these pioneers ama.s.sed easy fortunes. The falsification of such expectation is a melancholy story. Though the cattle-men in many cases managed to struggle on, the majority of the sheep-owners went under. The difficulties were enormous. Railways had not yet penetrated the country, though a small start had been made. Wool took from six to nine months reaching the coast by bullock dray, and the carriage of supplies to the station cost more than the goods themselves.

Frequently the next clip was awaiting carriage ere the previous one had left the station. Wages were high, and all forms of labour scarce.

The quality of sheep, too, was poor, many of them being the culls from Southern flocks, bought at high prices. The depression in the wool market, with high rates of interest on borrowed money, strained the pioneer's resources to breaking point, and in too many cases years of strenuous endeavour and hardship ended in ruin.

But brighter days were in store. As railways pushed out, the attention of Victorian capitalists was attracted by the potentialities of Western Queensland. The phenomenal gold production of Victoria had produced a plethora of money seeking investment, which const.i.tuted Melbourne the financial capital of Australia. This acc.u.mulated wealth, after fructifying New South Wales, flowed into Queensland. A Victorian invasion began. The knell of the shepherd had sounded, wire fences taking his place. Sheep that had hitherto been run in flocks of 1,500 to 2,000, tended during the day by a man and a dog and yarded at night, were now turned into large paddocks by tens of thousands with only a boundary rider to look to the fences. It was found by this method that the carrying capacity of country was enormously increased.

Yarded sheep, driven to and fro twice daily, destroy more gra.s.s than they can eat, whereas when left to themselves it is all utilised. The smaller the paddocks, the less the sheep wander and the larger the number that can be carried on a given area. It was found, too, that stocking greatly improved the water. On the spongy surface of virgin country, untrodden by any hoof, there was little "run" off the surface after rain, but when hardened by the tread of stock the creeks received a fairer share of the downpour. The best rams procurable from the Darling Downs and noted Southern studs rapidly improved the flocks. In 1873 wool rose to a price not touched for many years; a boom in Queensland stations set in, and the remnant of the pioneers who elected to do so sold out at prices that gave a rich though tardy reward for long and toilsome enterprise.

Although the general course of the industry has been one of great prosperity, it has not been without its serious checks. A severe drought throughout nearly the whole of Australia, culminating in 1902, inflicted terrible losses of both sheep and cattle. Waterholes supposed to be permanent dried up; and pastures within reach of those which proved permanent were trodden into a desert condition till the stock were too weak to travel back to the surviving pasturage. The outlook was so gloomy that almost universal ruin seemed impending.

It is sad to think that whilst stock were perishing in mult.i.tudes abundant subterranean streams, flowing southward to discharge uselessly in the Great Australian Bight, might have been available to avert this national calamity. The uses of adversity have never been more strikingly exemplified than by the number of artesian bores put down since that hard experience. These, as the cost of sinking decreases, are multiplying yearly. The artesian basin exists throughout nearly three-fifths of Queensland, and whilst the origin of these subterranean stores is still somewhat of a mystery they are apparently inexhaustible. The supply and the depth at which water is obtained vary considerably; the former runs as high as 3,000,000 gallons per diem, and the latter averages about 1,600 feet.

Whilst artesian boring has been prosecuted with commendable enterprise, the storage of surface water on an extensive scale has not yet received the attention it deserves. Many schemes have been mooted for conserving a portion of the huge volume of water that in the rainy season flows through regions which would gladly retain a share, to waste itself in the Southern Ocean. Doubtless in the future a problem of such fascination will attract the best engineering skill, and a number of inland lakes will result. But that day may yet be distant.

One such scheme only need be noticed. The Diamantina River, which in time of flood stretches out to many miles in breadth, flows south-westward through several degrees of Western Queensland. At a point known as Diamantina Gates it finds an exit through a narrow gorge in a low range. Although never yet tested by accurate survey, competent judges have surmised that a substantial dam at this spot would throw back an amount of water which would const.i.tute a veritable inland sea. Other large rivers--the Thomson, Barcoo, Hamilton, Georgina--also offer to the hydraulic engineer splendid opportunities of winning distinction.

In 1884 a notable change of land policy was adopted. The 1869 leases were expiring, and it was recognised that the big squattages could not longer be allowed to monopolise the country. Room was required for smaller holdings. All available country was already occupied under the 1869 leases, and, although under another Act 5,120 acres could be acquired with conditions of improvement and residence, there was no way of getting an area capable of carrying 10,000 sheep. There did not exist a small squatting cla.s.s. The Minister for Lands, Mr. C.

B. Dutton--himself a large squatter--recognised the desirability of creating such a cla.s.s, which would stand in the same relation to the "squattocracy" that the yeomen of Britain do to the large landowners.

In granting a new lease to the original lessee, Dutton's Act required him to surrender a portion of his run, from a half to a quarter according to the length of time his lease had been running. A Land Board independent of Ministerial control was appointed to arrange an equitable division of the runs and to fix the rent of the new lease, which was for fifteen years. Two years later this was increased to twenty-one years, on condition of the lessee surrendering another quarter of his area at the end of the fifteenth year. The portions resumed from the old squattages were surveyed into areas up to 20,000 acres and thrown open to selection. The old lessee--who regarded any area under 400 square miles as a paltry holding and counted his crop of calves by thousands and his yearly lambing increase by tens of thousands--ridiculed the new departure, maintaining that any man must starve on such an absurdly inadequate area as 20,000 acres. But these sinister predictions did not deter selectors from testing the question. At first grazing farms were only very gradually applied for, but a few years' experience justified Mr. Dutton's expectations, and a great demand set in, till now, as soon as opened to selection, there is a keen compet.i.tion for them. The difficulty is to survey them fast enough to provide for requirements. The maximum area has since been increased so that now as much as 60,000 acres can be held by an individual, provided the total rent does not exceed 200. It is not unusual for three or four grazing farmers to combine and manage the combined leasehold as a co-partnership, which, although not provided for in the Act, is sanctioned by the Land Court.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HORSES AT GOWRIE, DARLING DOWNS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHEEP AT GOWRIE, DARLING DOWNS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HORSES, WESTERN QUEENSLAND]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FAT CATTLE, BURRANDILLA, CHARLEVILLE]