Chapter I: Preface

This book is the first of a series which the Publisher intends to issue, illustrative of life and adventure in the Australian Colonies and the Islands of the Pacific. It has been carefully compiled from reliable sources of information--viz., _Wills's Diary_, _King's Narrative_, _Howitt's Diary_, Wood's _Explorations in Australia_, Withers's _History of Ballarat_, Sutherland's _Tales of the Gold-fields_, Raffello's _Account of the Ballarat Riots_, McCombie's _History of Victoria_, etc., etc. Most of these books are very expensive or out of print, and therefore not easily procurable at the booksellers.

In the succeeding volumes of the series it is proposed to give--"Buckley, the Runaway Convict, and his Black Friends," "John Batman, the Founder of Melbourne," "Fawkner, the Pioneer," "Early Days of Tasmania," "Botany Bay Tales," "Remarkable Convicts," "Notorious Bushrangers," "Brave Deeds," "Squatting Tales," "Remarkable Personal Adventures," "Curious Anecdotes," etc., etc.

MELBOURNE, 1889.

CONTENTS.

Burke and Wills--Two Heroes of Exploration.

CHAPTER I. PAGE
ACROSS AUSTRALIA 7

CHAPTER II.
THE RETURN JOURNEY 21

CHAPTER III.
SUFFERINGS AND DEATHS OF THE TWO LEADERS 34

CHAPTER IV.
SEARCH PARTIES, AND CONCLUSION 48

Old Times on the Gold-Fields.

CHAPTER I.
THE CONVICT'S STRATAGEM 63
EARLY DISCOVERIES IN NEW SOUTH WALES 66
HARGRAVES, THE PIONEER MINER 69
AN ABORIGINAL DISCOVERER 77

CHAPTER II.
GOLD IN VICTORIA 80
JAMES ESMOND, THE VICTORIAN PIONEER 81
OTHER PIONEERS 85

CHAPTER III.
EFFECT OF DISCOVERIES 89
CANVAS TOWN 94
RAG FAIR 95
NEW CHUMS AND OLD CHUMS 96

CHAPTER IV.
SLY GROG SHANTIES 100

CHAPTER V.
THE DIGGER'S LICENSE 105
DIGGER-HUNTING ANECDOTES 109

CHAPTER VI.
BEGINNINGS OF REVOLT 116
AN IRISH GALLANT 117
REFORM LEAGUES 120

CHAPTER VII.
THE EUREKA HOTEL MURDER 125
A LOYAL TOAST 130
BURNING THE LICENSES 131
THE LAST DIGGER-HUNT 134

CHAPTER VIII.
THE EUREKA STOCKADE 136
STORMING OF THE STOCKADE 141
EXCITEMENT IN MELBOURNE 145
WRONGS RIGHTED 149

Australian Heroes and Adventurers.

BURKE AND WILLS.

TWO HEROES OF EXPLORATION.