Chapter XVIII: Part 18

The Jurassic system is represented by two types. In Victoria,
Tasmania, northern New South Wales and Queensland, there are Jurassic
terrestrial deposits, containing the coal seams of Victoria, of the
Clarence basin of north-eastern New South Wales, and of the Ipswich
series in Queensland; the same beds range far inland on the western
slopes of the east Australian highlands in New South Wales and
Queensland and they occur, with coal-seams, at Leigh's Creek, at the
northern foot of the South Australian highlands. They are also
preserved in basins on the western plateau, as shown by brown coal
deposits passed through in the Lake Phillipson bore. The second and
marine type of the Jurassics occurs in Western Australia, on the
coastal plain skirting the western foot of the western plateau.

The Cretaceous period was initiated by the subsidence of a large area
to the south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, whereby a Lower Cretaceous
sea spread southward, across western Queensland, western New South
Wales and the north-eastern districts of South Australia. In this sea
were laid down the shales of the Rolling Downs formation. The sea does
not appear to have extended completely across Australia, breaking it
into halves, for a projection from the Archean plateau of Western
Australia extended as far east as the South Australian highlands, and
thence probably continued eastward, till it joined the Victorian
highlands. The Cretaceous sea gradually receded and the plains of the
Rolling Downs formation formed on its floor were covered by the
sub-aerial and lacustrine deposits of the Desert Sandstone.

The Kainozoic period opened with fresh earth movements, the most
striking evidence of which are the volcanic outbreaks all round the
Australian coasts. These movements in the south-east formed the Great
Valley of Victoria, which traverses nearly the whole of the state
between the Victorian highlands to the north, and the Jurassic
sandstones of the Otway Ranges and the hills of south Gippsland. In
this valley were laid down, either in Eocene or Oligocene times, a
great series of lake beds and thick accumulations of brown coal.
Similar deposits, of approximately the same age, occur in Tasmania and
New Zealand; and at about the same time there began the Kainozoic
volcanic period of Australasia. The first eruptions piled up huge
domes of lavas rich in soda, including the geburite-dacites and
solvsbergites of Mount Macedon in Victoria, and the kenyte and
tephrite domes of Dunedin, in New Zealand. These rocks were followed
by the outpouring of the extensive older basalts in the Great Valley
of Victoria and on the highlands of eastern Victoria, and also in New
South Wales and Queensland. Then followed a marine transgression along
most of the southern coast of Australia. The sea encroached far on the
land from the Great Australian Bight and there formed the limestones
of the Nullarbor Plains. The sea extended up the Murray basin into the
western plains of New South Wales. Farther east the sea was
interrupted by the still existing land-connexion between Tasmania and
Victoria; but beyond it, the marine deposits are found again, fringing
the coasts of eastern Gippsland and Croajingolong. These marine
deposits are not found anywhere along the eastern coast of Australia;
but they occur, and reach about the same height above sea-level, in
New Guinea, and are widely developed in New Zealand. No doubt eastern
Australia then extended far out into the Tasman Sea. The great
monoclinal fold which formed the eastern face of the east Australian
highlands, west of Sydney, is of later age. After this marine period
was brought to a close the sea retreated. Tasmania and Victoria were
separated by the foundering of Bass Strait, and at the same time the
formation of the rift valley of Spencer Gulf, and Lake Torrens,
isolated the South Australian highlands from the Eyre Peninsula and
the Westralian plateau. Earth movements are still taking place both
along Bass Strait and the Great Valley of South Australia, and
apparently along the whole length of the southern coast of Australia.

_The Flowing Wells of Central Australia._--The clays of the Rolling
Downs formation overlie a series of sands and drifts, saturated with
water under high pressure, which discharges at the surface as a
flowing well, when a borehole pierces the impermeable cover. The first
of these wells was opened at Kallara in the west of New South Wales in
1880. In 1882, Dr W.L. Jack concluded that western Queensland might be
a deep artesian basin. The Blackhall bore, put down at his advice from
1885 to 1888, reached a water-bearing layer at the depth of 1645 ft.
and discharged 291,000 gallons a day. It was the first of the deep
artesian wells of the continent. As the plains on the Rolling Downs
formation are mostly waterless, the discovery of this deep reservoir
of water has been of great aid in the development of central
Australia. In Queensland to the 30th of June 1904, 973 wells had been
sunk, of which 596 were flowing wells, and the total flow was
62,635,722 cub. ft. a day. The deepest well is that at Whitewood, 5046
ft. deep. In New South Wales by the 30th of June 1903, the government
had put down 101 bores producing 66 flowing wells and 22 sub-artesian
wells, with a total discharge of 54,000,000 gallons a day; and there
were also 144 successful private wells. In South Australia there are
38 deep bores, from 20 of which there is a flow of 6,250,000 gallons a
day.

The wells were first called artesian in the belief that the ascent of
the water in them was due to the hydrostatic pressure of water at a
higher level in the Queensland hills. The well-water was supposed to
have percolated underground, through the Blythesdale Braystone, which
outcrops in patches on the eastern edge of the Rolling Downs
formation. But the Blythesdale Braystone is a small local formation,
unable to supply all the wells that have been sunk; and many of the
wells derive their water from the Jurassic shales and mudstones. The
difference in level between the outcrop of the assumed eastern intake
and of the wells is often so small, in comparison with their distance
apart, that the friction would completely sop up the whole of the
available hydrostatic head. Many of the well-waters contain gases;
thus the town of Roma is lighted by natural gas which escapes from its
well. The chemical characters of the well-waters, the irregular
distribution of the water-pressure, the distribution of the
underground thermal gradients, and the occurrence in some of the wells
of a tidal rise and fall of a varying period, are facts which are not
explained on the simple hydrostatic theory. J.W. Gregory has
maintained (_Dead Heart of Australia_, 1906, pp. 273-341) that the
ascent of water in these wells is due to the tension of the included
gases and the pressure of overlying sheets of rocks, and that some of
the water is of plutonic origin.[1] (J. W. G.)

_Climate._--The Australian continent, extending over 28 deg. of latitude, might be expected to show a considerable diversity of climate. In reality, however, it experiences fewer climatic variations than the other great continents, owing to its distance (28 deg.) from the Antarctic circle and (11 deg.) from the equator. There is, besides, a powerful determining cause in the uniform character and undivided extent of its dry interior. The plains and steppes already described lie either within or close to the tropics. They present to the fierce play of the sun almost a level surface, so that during the day that surface becomes intensely heated and at night gives off its heat by radiation. Ordinarily the alternate expansion and contraction of the atmosphere which takes place under such circumstances would draw in a supply of moisture from the ocean, but the heated interior, covering some 900,000 sq. m., is so immense, that the moist air from the ocean does not come in sufficient supply, nor are there mountain chains to intercept the clouds which from time to time are formed; so that two-fifths of Australia, comprising a region stretching from the Australian Bight to 20 deg. S. and from 117 deg. to 142 deg. E., receives less than an average of 10 in. of rain throughout the year, and a considerable portion of this region has less than 5 in. No part of Victoria and very little of Queensland and New South Wales lie within this area. The rest of the continent may be considered as well watered. The north-west coast, particularly the portions north of Cambridge Gulf and the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, are favoured with an annual visitation of the monsoon from December to March, penetrating as far as 500 m. into the continent, and sweeping sometimes across western and southern Queensland to the northern interior of New South Wales. It is this tropical downpour that fills and floods the rivers flowing into Lake Eyre and those falling into the Darling on its right bank. The whole of the east coast of the continent is well watered. From Cape York almost to the tropic of Capricorn the rainfall exceeds 50 in. and ranges to over 70 in. At Brisbane the fall is 50 in., and portions of the New South Wales coast receive a like quantity, but speaking generally the fall is from 30 in. to 40 in. The southern shores of the continent receive much less rain. From Cape Howe to Melbourne the fall may be taken at from 30 in. to 40 in., Melbourne itself having an average of 25.6 in. West of Port Phillip the fall is less, averaging 20 in. to 30 in., diminishing greatly away from the coast. Along the shores of Encounter Bay and St Vincent and Spencer Gulfs, the precipitation ranges from 10 to 20 in., the yearly rainfall at Adelaide is a little less than 21 in., while the head of Spencer Gulf is within the 5 to 10 in. district. The rest of the southern coast west as far as 124 deg. E., with the exception of the southern projection of Eyre Peninsula, which receives from 10 to 20 in., belongs to the district with from 5 to 10 in. annual rainfall. The south-western angle of the continent, bounded by a line drawn diagonally from Jurien river to Cape Riche, has an average of from 30 to 40 in. annual rainfall, diminishing to about 20 to 30 in. in the country along the diagonal line. The remainder of the south and west coast from 124 deg. E. to York Sound in the Kimberley district for a distance of some 150 m. inland has a fall ranging from 10 to 20 in. The 10 to 20 in. rainfall band circles across the continent through the middle of the Northern Territory, embraces the entire centre and south-west of Queensland, with the exception of the extreme south-western angle of the state, and includes the whole of the interior of New South Wales to a line about 200 m. from the coast, as well as the western and northern portions of Victoria and South Australia south of the Murray.

The area of Australia subject to a rainfall of from 10 to 20 in. is
843,000 sq. m. On the seaward side of this area in the north and east
is the 20 to 30 in. annual rainfall area, and still nearer the sea are
the exceptionally well-watered districts. The following table shows
the area of the rainfall zones in square miles:--

Rainfall Area
Rainfall. in sq. m.

Under 10 inches 1,219,600
10 to 20 " 843,100
20 to 30 " 399,900
30 to 40 " 225,700
40 to 50 " 140,300
50 to 60 " 47,900
60 to 70 " 56,100
Over 70 " 14,100
---------
Total 2,946,700

The tropic of Capricorn divides Australia into two parts. Of these the
northern or intertropical portion contains 1,145,000 sq. m.,
comprising half of Queensland, the Northern Territory, and the
north-western divisions of Western Australia. The whole of New South
Wales, Victoria and South Australia proper, half of Queensland, and
more than half of Western Australia, comprising 1,801,700 sq. m., are
without the tropics. In a region so extensive very great varieties of
climate are naturally to be expected, but it may be stated as a
general law that the climate of Australia is milder than that of
corresponding lands in the northern hemisphere. During July, which is
the coldest month in southern latitudes, one-half of Australia has a
mean temperature ranging from 45 deg. to 61 deg., and the other half
from 62 deg. to 80 deg. The following are the areas subject to the
various average temperatures during the month referred to:--

Temperature Area
Fahr. in sq. m.

45 deg.-50 deg. 18,800
50 deg.-55 deg. 506,300
55 deg.-60 deg. 681,800
60 deg.-65 deg. 834,400
65 deg.-70 deg. 515,000
70 deg.-75 deg. 275,900
75 deg.-80 deg. 24,500

The temperature in December ranges from 60 deg. to above 95 deg.
Fahr., half of Australia having a mean temperature below 84 deg.
Dividing the land into zones of average summer temperature, the
following are the areas which would fall to each:--

Temperature Area
Fahr. in sq. m.

60 deg.-65 deg. 67,800
65 deg.-70 deg. 63,700
70 deg.-75 deg. 352,300
75 deg.-80 deg. 439,200
80 deg.-85 deg. 733,600
85 deg.-90 deg. 570,600
90 deg.-95 deg. 584,100
95 deg. and over 135,400

Judging from the figures just given, it must be conceded that a
considerable area of the continent is not adapted for colonization by
European races. The region with a mean summer temperature in excess of
95 deg. Fahr. is the interior of the Northern Territory north of the
20th parallel; and the whole of the country, excepting the seaboard,
lying between the meridians of 120 deg. and 140 deg., and north of the
25th parallel, has a mean temperature in excess of 90 deg. Fahr.

Queensland.

The area of Australia is so large that the characteristics of its
climate will not be understood without reference to the individual
states. About one-half of the colony of Queensland lies in the
tropics, the remaining area lying between the tropic and 29 deg. S.
The temperature, however, has a daily range less than that of other
countries under the same isothermal lines. This circumstance is due to
the sea-breezes, which blow with great regularity, and temper what
would otherwise be an excessive heat. The hot winds which prevail
during the summer in some of the other colonies are unknown in
Queensland. Of course, in a territory of such large extent there are
many varieties of climate, and the heat is greater along the coast
than on the elevated lands of the interior. In the northern parts of
the colony the high temperature is very trying to persons of European
descent. The mean temperature at Brisbane, during December, January
and February, is about 76 deg., while during the months of June, July
and August it averages about 60 deg. Brisbane, however, is situated
near the extreme southern end of the colony, and its average
temperature is considerably less than that of many of the towns
farther north. Thus the winter in Rockhampton averages nearly 65 deg.,
while the summer heat rises almost to 85 deg.; and at Townsville and
Normanton the average temperature is still higher. The average
rainfall along the coast is high, especially in the north, where it
ranges from 60 to 70 in. per annum, and along a strip of country south
from Cape Melville to Rockingham Bay the average rainfall exceeds 70
in. At Brisbane the rainfall is about 50 in., taking an average of
forty years. A large area of the interior is watered to the extent of
20 to 30 in. per annum, but in the west and south, more remote than
from 250 to 300 m., there is a rainfall of less than 20 in.

New South Wales.

Climatically, New South Wales is divided into three marked divisions.
The coastal region has an average summer temperature ranging from 78
deg. in the north to 67 deg. in the south, with a winter temperature
of from 59 deg. to 52 deg. Taking the district generally, the
difference between the mean summer and mean winter temperatures may be
set down as averaging not more than 20 deg., a range smaller than is
found in most other parts of the world. Sydney, situated in latitude
33 deg. 51' S., has a mean temperature of 62.9 deg. Fahr., which
corresponds with that of Barcelona in Spain and of Toulon in France,
the former of these being in latitude 41 deg. 22' N. and the latter in
43 deg. 7' N. At Sydney the mean summer temperature is 70.8 deg.
Fahr., and that of winter 53.9 deg. The range is thus 16.9 deg. Fahr.
At Naples, where the mean temperature for the year is about the same
as at Sydney, the summer temperature reaches a mean of 74.4 deg., and
the mean of winter is 47.6 deg., with a range 26.8 deg. The mean
temperature of Sydney for a long series of years was spring 62 deg.,
summer 71 deg., autumn 64 deg., winter 54 deg.

Passing from the coast to the tableland, a distinct climatic region is
entered. Cooma, with a mean summer temperature of 65.4 deg., and a
mean winter temperature of 41.4 deg., may be taken as illustrative of
the climate of the southern tableland, and Armidale of the northern.
The yearly average temperature of the latter is scarcely 65.5 deg.,
while the summer only reaches 67.7 deg., and the winter falls to 44.4
deg.

The climatic conditions of the western districts of the state are
entirely different from those of the other two regions. The summer is
hot, but on the whole the climate is very healthy. The town of Bourke,
lying on the upper Darling, may be taken as an example of many of the
interior districts, and illustrates peculiarly well the defects as
well as the excellencies of the climate of the whole region. Bourke
has exactly the same latitude as Cairo, yet its mean summer
temperature is 1.3 deg. less, and its mean annual temperature 4 deg.
less than that of the Egyptian city. New Orleans, also on the same
parallel, is 4 deg. hotter in summer. As regards winter temperature
Bourke leaves little to be desired. The mean winter reading of the
thermometer is 54.7, and accompanied as this is by clear skies and an
absence of snow, the season is both pleasant and invigorating. The
rainfall of New South Wales ranges from an annual average of 64 in. at
various points on the northern coast, and at Kiandra in the Monaro
district, to 9 in. at Milparinka in the trans-Darling district. The
coastal districts average about 42 in. per annum, the tablelands 32
in., and the western interior has an average as low as 20 in. At
Sydney, the average rainfall, since observations were commenced, has
been 50 in.

Victoria.

The climate of Victoria does not differ greatly from that of New South
Wales. The heat, however, is generally less intense in summer, and the
cold greater in winter. Melbourne, which stands in latitude 37 deg.
50' S., has a mean temperature of 57.3 deg., and therefore corresponds
with Washington in the United States, Madrid, Lisbon and Messina. The
difference between summer and winter is, however, less at Melbourne
than at any of the places mentioned, the result of a long series of
observations being spring 57 deg., summer 65.3 deg., autumn 58.7 deg.,
and winter 49.2 deg. The highest recorded temperature in the shade at
Melbourne is 110.7 deg., and the lowest 27 deg., but it is rare for
the summer heat to exceed 85 deg., or for the winter temperature in
the daytime to fall below 40 deg. Ballarat, the second city of
Victoria, lies above 100 m. west from Melbourne at a height of 1400
ft. above sea-level. It has a minimum temperature of 29 deg., and a
maximum of 104.5 deg., the average yearly mean being 54.1 deg. The
rainfall of Melbourne averages 25.58 in., the mean number of rainy
days being 131.

South Australia.

South Australia proper extends over 26 degrees of latitude, and
naturally presents considerable variations of climate. The coldest
months are June, July and August, during which the temperature is very
agreeable, averaging 53.6 deg., 51.7 deg., and 54 deg. in those months
respectively. On the plains slight frosts occur occasionally, and ice
is sometimes seen on the highlands. In summer the sun has great
power, and the temperature reaches 100 deg. in the shade, with hot
winds blowing from the interior. The weather on the whole is
remarkably dry. At Adelaide there are on an average 120 rainy days per
annum, with a mean rainfall of 20-88 in. The country is naturally very
healthful, as evidence of which may be mentioned that no great
epidemic has ever visited the state.

Western Australia.

Western Australia has practically only two seasons, the winter or wet
season, which commences in April and ends in October, and the summer
or dry season, which comprises the remainder of the Year. During the
wet season frequent and heavy rains fall, and thunderstorms, with
sharp showers, occur in the summer, especially on the north-west
coast, which is sometimes visited by hurricanes of great violence. In
the southern and early-settled parts of the state the mean temperature
is about 64 deg., but in the more northern portions the heat is
excessive, though the dryness of the atmosphere makes it preferable to
moist tropical climates. The average rainfall at Perth is 33 in. per
annum.

The climate of the Northern Territory is extremely not, except on the
elevated tablelands; altogether, the temperature of this part of the
continent is very similar to that of northern Queensland, and the
climate is not favourable to Europeans. The rainfall in the extreme
north, especially in January and February, is very heavy, and the
annual average along the coast is about 63 in. The whole of the
peninsula north of 15 deg. S. has a rainfall considerably exceeding 40
in. This region is backed by a belt of about 100 m. wide, in which the
rainfall is from 30 to 40 in., from which inwards the rainfall
gradually declines until between Central Mount Stuart and Macdonnell
ranges it falls to between 5 and 10 in.

_Fauna and Flora._--The origin of the fauna and flora of Australia has attracted considerable attention. Much accumulated evidence, biological and geological, has pointed to a southern extension of India, an eastern extension of South Africa, and a western extension of Australia into the Indian Ocean. The comparative richness of proteaceous plants in Western Australia and South Africa first suggested a common source for these primitive types. Dr H.O. Forbes drew attention to a certain community amongst birds and other vertebrates, invertebrates, and amongst plants, on all the lands stretching towards the south pole. A theory was therefore propounded that these known types were all derived from a continent which has been named Antarctica. The supposed continent extended across the south pole, practically joining Australia and South America. Just as we have evidence of a former mild climate in the arctic regions, so a similar mild climate has been postulated for Antarctica. Modern naturalists consider that many of the problems of Australia's remarkable fauna and flora can be best explained by the following hypothesis:--The region now covered by the antarctic ice-cap was in early Tertiary times favoured by a mild climate; here lay an antarctic continent or archipelago. From an area corresponding to what is now South America there entered a fauna and flora, which, after undergoing modification, passed by way of Tasmania to Australia. These immigrants then developed, with some exceptions, into the present Australian flora and fauna. This theory has advanced from the position of a disparaged heresy to acceptance by leading thinkers. The discovery as fossil, in South America, of primitive or ancestral forms of marsupials has given it much support. One of these, _Prothylacinus_, is regarded as the forerunner of the marsupial wolf of Tasmania. An interesting link between divergent marsupial families, still living in Ecuador, the _Coenolestes_, is another discovery of recent years. On the Australian side the fact that Tasmania is richest in marsupial types indicates the gate by which they entered. It is not to be supposed that this antarctic element, to which Professor Tate has applied the name _Euronotian_, entered a desert barren of all life. Previous to its arrival Australia doubtless possessed considerable vegetation and a scanty fauna, chiefly invertebrate. At a comparatively recent date Australia received its third and newest constituent. The islands of Torres Strait have been shown to be the denuded remnant of a former extension of Cape York peninsula in North Queensland. Previous to the existence of the strait, and across its site, there poured into Australia a wealth of Papuan forms. Along the Pacific slope of the Queensland Cordillera these found in soil and climate a congenial home. Among the plants the wild banana, pepper, orange and mangosteen, rhododendron, epiphytic orchids and the palm; among mammals the bats and rats; among birds the cassowary and rifle birds; and among reptiles the crocodile and tree snakes, characterize this element. The numerous facts, geological, geographical and biological, which when linked together lend great support to this theory, have been well worked out in Australia by Mr Charles Hedley of the Australian Museum, Sydney.

Fauna.

The zoology of Australia and Tasmania presents a very conspicuous
point of difference from that of other regions of the globe, in the
prevalence of non-placental mammalia. The vast majority of the
mammalia are provided with an organ in the uterus, by which, before
the birth of their young, a vascular connexion is maintained between
the embryo and the parent animal. There are two orders, the
Marsupialia and the Monotremata, which do not possess this organ; both
these are found in Australia, to which region indeed they are not
absolutely confined.

The geographical limits of the marsupials are very interesting. The
opossums of America are marsupials, though not showing anomalies as
great as kangaroos and bandicoots (in their feet), and _Myrmecobius_
(in the number of teeth). Except the opossums, no single living
marsupial is known outside the Australian zoological region. The forms
of life characteristic of India and the Malay peninsula come down to
the island of Bali. Bali is separated from Lombok by a strait not more
than 15 m. wide. Yet this narrow belt of water is the boundary line
between the Australasian and the Indian regions. The zoological
boundary passing through the Bali Strait is called "Wallace's line,"
after the eminent naturalist who was its discoverer. He showed that
not only as regards beasts, but also as regards birds, these regions
are thus sharply limited. Australia, he pointed out, has no
woodpeckers and no pheasants, which are widely-spread Indian birds.
Instead of these it has mound-making turkeys, honey-suckers, cockatoos
and brush-tongued lories, all of which are found nowhere else in the
world.

The marsupials constitute two-thirds of all the Australian species of
mammals. It is the well-known peculiarity of this order that the
female has a pouch or fold of skin upon her abdomen, in which she can
place the young for suckling within reach of her teats. The opossum of
America is the only species out of Australasia which is thus provided.
Australia is inhabited by at least 110 different species of
marsupials, which is about two-thirds of the known species; these have
been arranged in five tribes, according to the food they eat, viz.,
the grass-eaters (kangaroos), the root-eaters (wombats), the
insect-eaters (bandicoots), the flesh-eaters (native cats and rats),
and the fruit-eaters (phalangers).

The kangaroo (_Macropus_) lives in droves in the open grassy plains.
Several smaller forms of the same general appearance are known as
wallabies, and are common everywhere. The kangaroo and most of its
congeners show an extraordinary disproportion of the hind limbs to the
fore part of the body. The rock wallabies again have short tarsi of
the hind legs, with a long pliable tail for climbing, like that of the
tree kangaroo of New Guinea, or that of the jerboa. Of the larger
kangaroos, which attain a weight of 200 lb. and more, eight species
are named, only one of which is found in Western Australia. Fossil
bones of extinct kangaroo species are met with; these kangaroos must
have been of enormous size, twice or thrice that of any species now
living.

There are some twenty smaller species in Australia and Tasmania,
besides the rock wallabies and the hare kangaroos; these last are
wonderfully swift, making clear jumps 8 or 10 ft. high. Other
terrestrial marsupials are the wombat (_Phascolomys_), a large,
clumsy, burrowing animal, not unlike a pig, which attains a weight of
from 60 to 100 lb.; the bandicoot (_Perameles_), a rat-like creature
whose depredations annoy the agriculturist; the native cat
(_Dasyurus_), noted robber of the poultry yard; the Tasmanian wolf
(_Thylacinus_), which preys on large game; and the recently discovered
_Notoryctes_, a small animal which burrows like a mole in the desert
of the interior. Arboreal species include the well-known opossums
(_Phalanger_); the extraordinary tree-kangaroo of the Queensland
tropics; the flying squirrel, which expands a membrane between the
legs and arms, and by its aid makes long sailing jumps from tree to
tree; and the native bear (_Phascolarctos_), an animal with no
affinities to the bear, and having a long soft fur and no tail.

The _Myrmecobius_ of Western Australia is a bushy-tailed ant-eater
about the size of a squirrel, and from its lineage and structure of
more than passing interest. It is, Mivart remarks, a survival of a
very ancient state of things. It had ancestors in a flourishing
condition during the Secondary epoch. Its congeners even then lived in
England, as is proved by the fact that their relics have been found in
the Stonesfield oolitic rocks, the deposition of which is separated
from that which gave rise to the Paris Tertiary strata by an abyss of
past time which we cannot venture to express even in thousands of
years.

We pass on to the other curious order of non-placental mammals, that
of the Monotremata, so called from the structure of their organs of
evacuation with a single orifice, as in birds. Their abdominal bones
are like those of the marsupials; and they are furnished with pouches
for their young, but have no teats, the milk being distilled into
their pouches from the mammary glands. Australia and Tasmania possess
two animals of this order--the echidna, or spiny ant-eater (hairy in
Tasmania), and the _Platypus anatinus_, the duckbilled water mole,
otherwise named the _Ornithorhynchus paradoxus_. This odd animal is
provided with a bill or beak, which is not, like that of a bird,
affixed to the skeleton, but is merely attached to the skin and
muscles.

Australia has no apes, monkeys or baboons, and no ruminant beasts. The
comparatively few indigenous placental mammals, besides the dingo or
wild dog--which, however, may have come from the islands north of this
continent--are of the bat tribe and of the rodent or rat tribe. There
are four species of large fruit-eating bats, called flying foxes,
twenty of insect-eating bats, above twenty of land-rats, and five of
water-rats. The sea produces three different seals, which often ascend
rivers from the coast, and can live in lagoons of fresh water; many
cetaceans, besides the "right whale" and sperm whale; and the dugong,
found on the northern shores, which yields a valuable medicinal oil.

The birds of Australia in their number and variety of species may be
deemed some compensation for its poverty of mammals; yet it will not
stand comparison in this respect with regions of Africa and South
America in the same latitudes. The black swan was thought remarkable
when discovered, as belying an old Latin proverb. There is also a
white eagle. The vulture is wanting. Sixty species of parrots, some of
them very handsome, are found in Australia. The emu corresponds with
the African and Arabian ostrich, the rhea of South America, and the
cassowary of the Moluccas and New Guinea. In New Zealand this group is
represented by the apteryx, as it formerly was by the gigantic moa,
the remains of which have been found likewise in Queensland. The
graceful _Menura superba_, or lyre-bird, with its tail feathers spread
in the shape of a lyre, is a very characteristic form. The
mound-raising megapodes, the bower-building satin-birds, and several
others, display peculiar habits. The honey-eaters present a great
diversity of plumage. There are also many kinds of game birds,
pigeons, ducks, geese, plovers and quails. The ornithology of New
South Wales and Queensland is more varied and interesting than that of
the other provinces.

As for reptiles, Australia has a few tortoises, all of one family, and
not of great size. The "leathery turtle," which is herbivorous, and
yields abundance of oil, has been caught at sea off the Illawarra
coast so large as 9 ft. in length. The saurians or lizards are
numerous, chiefly on dry sandy or rocky ground in the tropical region.
The great crocodile of Queensland has been known to attain a length of
30 ft.; there is a smaller one about 6 ft. in length to be met with in
the shallow lagoons of the interior of the Northern Territory. Lizards
occur in great profusion and variety. The monitor, or fork-tongued
lizard, which burrows in the earth, climbs and swims, is said to grow
to a length of 8 to 9 ft. This species and many others do not extend
to Tasmania. The monitor is popularly known as the goanna, a name
derived from the iguana, an entirely different animal. There are about
twenty kinds of night-lizards, and many which hibernate. One species
can utter a cry when pained or alarmed, and the tall-standing frilled
lizard can lift its forelegs, and squat or hop like a kangaroo. There
is also the _Moloch horridus_ of South and Western Australia, covered
with tubercles bearing large spines, which give it a very strange
aspect. This and some other lizards have power to change their colour,
not only from light to dark, but over some portions of their bodies,
from yellow to grey or red. Frogs of many kinds are plentiful, the
brilliant green frogs being especially conspicuous and noisy.
Australia is rich in snakes, and has more than a hundred different
kinds. Most of these are venomous, but all are not equally dreaded.
Five rather common species are certainly deadly--the death adder, the
brown, the black, the superb and the tiger snakes. During the colder
months these reptiles remain in a torpid state. No certain cure has
been or is likely to be discovered for their poison, but in less
serious cases strychnine has been used with advantage. In tropical
waters a sea snake is found, which, though very poisonous, rarely
bites. Among the inoffensive species are counted the graceful green
"tree snake," which pursues frogs, birds and lizards to the topmost
branches of the forest; also several species of pythons, the commonest
of which is known as the carpet snake. These great reptiles may attain
a length of 10 ft.; they feed on small animals which they crush to
death in their folds.

The Australian seas are inhabited by many fishes of the same genera as
exist in the southern parts of Asia and Africa. Of those peculiar to
Australian waters may be mentioned the arripis, represented by what is
called among the colonists a salmon trout. A very fine freshwater fish
is the Murray cod, which sometimes weighs 100 lb.; and the golden
perch, found in the same river, has rare beauty of colour. Among the
sea fish, the schnapper is of great value as an article of food, and
its weight comes up to 50 lb. This is the _Pagrus unicolor_, of the
family of _Sparidae_, which includes also the bream. Its colours are
beautiful, pink and red with a silvery gloss; but the male as it grows
old takes on a singular deformity of the head, with a swelling in the
shape of a monstrous human-like nose. These fish frequent rocky shoals
off the eastern coast and are caught in numbers outside Port Jackson
for the Sydney market. Two species of mackerel, differing somewhat
from the European species, are also caught on the coasts. The
so-called red garnet, a pretty fish, with hues of carmine and blue
stripes on its head, is much esteemed for the table. The _Trigla
polyommata_, or flying garnet, is a greater beauty, with its body of
crimson and silver, and its large pectoral fins, spread like wings, of
a rich green, bordered with purple, and relieved by a black and white
spot. Whiting, mullet, gar-fish, rock cod and many others known by
local names, are in the lists of edible fishes belonging to New South
Wales and Victoria. Oysters abound on the eastern coast, and on the
shelving banks of a vast extent of the northern coast the pearl oyster
is the source of a considerable industry.

Two existing fishes may be mentioned as ranking in interest with the
_Myrmecobius_ (ant-eater) in the eyes of the naturalist. These are the
_Ceratodus Forsteri_ and the Port Jackson shark. The "mud-fish" of
Queensland (_Ceratodus Forsteri_) belongs to an ancient order of
fishes--the Dipnoi, only a few species of which have survived from
past geological periods. The Dipnoi show a distinct transition between
fishes and amphibia. So far the mud-fish has been found only in the
Mary and the Burnett rivers. Hardly of less scientific interest is the
Port Jackson shark (_Heterodontus_). It is a harmless helmeted
ground-shark, living on molluscs, and almost the sole survivor of a
genus abundant in the Secondary rocks of Europe.

Flora.

The eastern parts of Australia are very much richer both in their
botany and in their zoology than any of the other parts. This is due
in part to the different physical conditions there prevailing and in
part to the invasion of the north-eastern portion of the continent by
a number of plants characteristically Melanesian. This element was
introduced via Torres Strait, and spread down the Queensland coast to
portions of the New South Wales littoral, and also round the Gulf of
Carpentaria, but has never been able to obtain a hold in the more arid
interior. It has so completely obliterated the original flora, that a
Queensland coast jungle is almost an exact replication of what may be
seen on the opposite shores of the straits, in New Guinea. This wealth
of plant life is confined to the littoral and the coastal valleys, but
the central valleys and the plateaux have, if not a varied flora, a
considerable wealth of timber trees in every way superior to the flora
inland in the same latitudes. In the interior there is little change
in the general aspect of the vegetation, from the Australian Bight to
the region of Carpentaria, where the exotic element begins. Behind the
luxuriant jungles of the sub-tropical coast, once over the main range,
we find the purely Australian flora with its apparent sameness and
sombre dulness. Physical surroundings rather than latitude determine
the character of the flora. The contour lines showing the heights
above sea-level are the directions along which species spread to form
zones. Putting aside the exotic vegetation of the north and east
coast-line, the Australian bush gains its peculiar character from the
prevalence of the so-called gum-trees (_Eucalyptus_) and the acacias,
of which last there are 300 species, but the eucalypts above all are
everywhere. Dwarfed eucalypts fringe the tree-limit on Mount
Kosciusco, and the soakages in the parched interior are indicated by a
line of the same trees, stunted and straggling. Over the vast
continent from Wilson's Promontory to Cape York, north, south, east
and west--where anything can grow--there will be found a gum-tree. The
eucalypts are remarkable for the oil secreted in their leaves, and the
large quantity of astringent resin of their bark. This resinous
exudation (Kino) somewhat resembles gum, hence the name "gum" tree. It
will not dissolve in water as gums do, but it is soluble in alcohol,
as resin usually is. Many of the gum-trees throw off their bark, so
that it hangs in long dry strips from the trunk and branches, a
feature familiar in "bush" pictures. The bark, resin and "oils" of the
eucalyptus are well known as commercial products. As early as 1866,
tannic acid, gallic acid, wood spirit, acetic acid, essential oil and
eucalyptol were produced from various species of eucalyptus, and
researches made by Australian chemists, notably by Messrs. Baker and
Smith of the Sydney Technical College, have brought to light many
other valuable products likely to prove of commercial value. The genus
_Eucalyptus_ numbers more than 150 species, and provides some of the
most durable timbers known. The iron-bark of the eastern coast uplands
is well known (_Eucalyptus sideroxylon_), and is so called from the
hardness of the wood, the bark not being remarkable except for its
rugged and blackened aspect. Samples of this timber have been studied
after forty-three years' immersion in sea-water. Portions most liable
to destruction, those parts between the tide marks, were found
perfectly sound, and showed no signs of the ravages of marine
organisms. Other valuable timber trees of the eastern portion of the
continent are the blackbutt, tallow-wood, spotted gum, red gum,
mahogany, and blue gum, eucalyptus; and the turpentine (_Syncarpia
laurifolia_), which has proved to be more resistant to the attacks of
teredo than any other timber and is largely used in wharf construction
in infested waters. There are also several extremely valuable soft
timbers, the principal being red cedar (_Cedrela Toona_), silky oak
(_Grevillea robusta_), beech and a variety of teak, with several
important species of pine. The red gum forests of the Murray valley
and the pine forests bordering the Great Plains are important and
valuable. In Western Australia there are extensive forests of
hardwood, principally jarrah (_Eucalyptus marginata_), a very durable
timber; 14,000 sq. m. of country are covered with this species. Jarrah
timber is nearly impervious to the attacks of the teredo, and there is
good evidence to show that, exposed to wear and weather, or placed
under the soil, or used as submarine piles, the wood remained intact
after nearly fifty years' trial. The following figures show the high
density of Australian timber:--

Australian Specific
timber. gravity.

Jarrah 1.12
Grey iron-bark 1.18
Red iron-bark 1.22
Forest oak 1.21
Tallow wood 1.23
Mahogany 1.20
Grey gum .917
Red gum .995

European Specific
timber. gravity.
Ash .753
Beech .690
Chestnut .535
British oak .99

The resistance to breaking or rupture of Australian timber is very
high; grey iron-bark with a specific gravity of 1.18 has a modulus of
rupture of 17,900 lb. per sq. in. compared with 11,800 lb. for British
oak with a specific gravity of .69 to .99. No Australian timber in the
foregoing list has a less modulus than 13,100 lb. per sq. in.

Various "scrubs" characterize the interior, differing very widely from
the coastal scrubs. "Mallee" scrub occupies large tracts of South
Australia and Victoria, covering probably an extent of 16,000 sq. m.
The mallee is a species of eucalyptus growing 12 to 14 ft. high. The
tree breaks into thin stems close to the ground, and these branch
again and again, the leaves being developed umbrella-fashion on the
outer branches. The mallee scrub appears like a forest of dried osier,
growing so close that it is not always easy to ride through it. Hardly
a leaf is visible to the height of one's head; but above, a crown of
thick leather-like leaves shuts out the sunlight. The ground below is
perfectly bare, and there is no water. Nothing could add to the
sterility and the monotony of these mallee scrubs. "Mulga" scrub is a
somewhat similar thicket, covering large areas. The tree in this
instance is one of the acacias, a genus distributed through all parts
of the continent. Some species have rather elegant blossoms, known to
the settlers as "wattle." They serve admirably to break the sombre and
monotonous aspect of the Australian vegetation. Two species of acacia
are remarkable for the delicate and violet-like perfume of their
wood--myall and yarran. The majority of the species of _Acacia_ are
edible and serve as reserve fodder for sheep and cattle. In the
alluvial portions of the interior salsolaceous plants--saltbush,
bluebush, cottonbush--are invaluable to the pastoralist, and to their
presence the pre-eminence of Australia as a wool-producing country is
largely due.

Grasses and herbage in great variety constitute the most valuable
element of Australian flora from the commercial point of view. The
herbage for the most part grows with marvellous rapidity after a
spring or autumn shower and forms a natural shelter for the more
stable growth of nutritious grasses.

Under the system of grazing practised throughout Australia it is
customary to allow sheep, cattle and horses to run at large all the
year round within enormous enclosures and to depend entirely upon the
natural growth of grass for their subsistence. Proteaceous plants,
although not exclusively Australian, are exceedingly characteristic of
Australian scenery, and are counted amongst the oldest flowering
plants of the world. The order is easily distinguished by the hard,
dry, woody texture of the leaves and the dehiscent fruits. They are
found in New Zealand and also in New Caledonia, their greatest
developments being on the south-west of the Australian continent.
Proteaceae are found also in Tierra del Fuego and Chile. They are also
abundant in South Africa, where the order forms the most conspicuous
feature of vegetation. The range in species is very limited, no one
being common to eastern and western Australia. The chief genera are
banksia (_honeysuckle_), and hakea (_needle bush_).

The Moreton Bay pine (_Araucaria Cunninghamii_) is reckoned amongst
the giants of the forest. The genus is associated with one long
extinct in Europe. Moreton Bay pine is chiefly known by the utility of
its wood. Another species, _A. Bidwillii_, or the bunya-bunya,
afforded food in its nut-like seeds to the aborigines. A most
remarkable form of vegetation in the north-west is the gouty-stemmed
tree (_Adansonia Gregorii_), one of the Malvaceae. It is related
closely to the famous baobab of tropical Africa. The "grass-tree"
(_Xanthorrhoea_), of the uplands and coast regions, is peculiarly
Australian in its aspect. It is seen as a clump of wire-like leaves, a
few feet in diameter, surrounding a stem, hardly thicker than a
walking-stick, rising to a height of 10 or 12 ft. This terminates in a
long spike thickly studded with white blossoms. The grass-tree gives
as distinct a character to an Australian picture as the agave and
cactus do to the Mexican landscape. With these might be associated the
gigantic lily of Queensland (_Nymphaea gigantea_), the leaves of which
float on water, and are quite 18 in. across. There is also a gigantic
lily (_Doryanthes excelsa_) which grows to a height of 15 feet. The
"flame tree" is a most conspicuous feature of an Illawarra landscape,
the largest racemes of crimson red suggesting the name. The waratah or
native tulip, the magnificent flowering head of which, with the
kangaroo, is symbolic of the country, is one of the Proteaceae. The
natives were accustomed to suck its tubular flowers for the honey they
contained. The "nardoo" seed, on which the aborigines sometimes
contrived to exist, is a creeping plant, growing plentifully in swamps
and shallow pools, and belongs to the natural order of Marsileaceae.
The spore-cases remain after the plant is dried up and withered. These
are collected by the natives, and are known over most of the continent
as nardoo.

No speculation of hypothesis has been propounded to account
satisfactorily for the origin of the Australian flora. As a step
towards such hypothesis it has been noted that the Antarctic, the
South African, and the Australian floras have many types in common.
There is also to a limited extent a European element present. One
thing is certain, that there is in Australia a flora that is a remnant
of a vegetation once widely distributed. Heer has described such
Australian genera as Banksia, Eucalyptus, _Grevillea_ and _Hakea_ from
the Miocene of Switzerland. Another point agreed upon is that the
Australian flora is one of vast antiquity. There are genera so far
removed from every living genus that many connecting links must have
become extinct. The region extending round the south-western extremity
of the continent has a peculiarly characteristic assemblage of typical
Australian forms, notably a great abundance of the Proteaceae. This
flora, isolated by arid country from the rest of the continent, has
evidently derived its plant life from an outside source, probably from
lands no longer existing.

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

_Population._[2]--The Australian people are mainly of British origin, only 3-1/4% of the population of European descent being of non-British race. It is certain that the aborigines (see the section on Aborigines below) are very much less numerous than when the country was first colonized, but their present numbers can be given for only a few of the states. At the census of 1901, 48,248 aborigines were enumerated, of whom 7434 were in New South Wales, 652 in Victoria, 27,123 in South Australia, and 6212 in Western Australia. The assertion by the Queensland authorities that there are 50,000 aborigines in that state is a crude estimate, and may be far wide of the truth. In South Australia and the Northern Territory a large number are outside the bounds of settlement, and it is probable that they are as numerous there as in Queensland. The census of Western Australia included only those aborigines in the employment of the colonists; and as a large part of this, the greatest of the Australian states, is as yet unexplored, it may be presumed that the aborigines enumerated were very far short of the whole number of persons of that race in the state. Taking all things into consideration, the aboriginal population of the continent may be set down at something like 180,000. Chinese, numbering about 30,000, are chiefly found in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and the Northern Territory. Of Japanese there were 3500, of Hindu and Sinhalese 4600, according to recent computation, but the policy of the Commonwealth is adverse to further immigration of other than whites. South Sea Islanders and other coloured races, numbering probably about 15,000, were in 1906 to be found principally in Queensland, but further immigration of Pacific Islanders to Australia is now restricted, and the majority of those in the country in 1906 were deported by the middle of 1907.

At the close of 1906 the population of Australia was approximately 4,120,000, exclusive of aborigines. The increase of population since 1871 was as follows: 1871, 1,668,377; 1881, 2,252,617; 1891, 3,183,237; 1901, 3,773,248. The expansion has been due mainly to the natural increase; that is, by reason of excess of births over deaths. Immigration to Australia has been very slight since 1891, owing originally to the stoppage of progress consequent on the bank crisis of 1893, and, subsequently, to the disinclination of several of the state governments towards immigration and their failure to provide for the welfare of immigrants on their arrival. During 1906 a more rational view of the value of immigration was adopted by the various state governments and by the federal government, and immigration to Australia is now systematically encouraged. Australia's gain of population by immigration,--i.e. the excess of the inward over the outward movement of a population--since the discovery of gold in 1851, arranged in ten years periods, was

1852-1861 520,713
1862-1871 188,158
1872-1881 223,326
1882-1891 374,097
1892-1901 2,377

During the five years following the last year of the foregoing table, there was practically no increase in population by immigration.

The birth rate averages 26.28 per thousand of the population and the death rate 12.28, showing a net increase of 14 per thousand by reason of the excess of births over deaths. The marriage rate varies as in other countries from year to year according to the degree of prosperity prevailing. In the five years 1881-1888 the rate was 8.08 marriages (16.1 persons) per thousand of the population, declining to 6.51 in 1891-1895; in recent years there has been a considerable improvement, and the Australian marriage rate may be quoted as ranging between 6.75 and 7.25. The death rate of Australia is much below that of European countries and is steadily declining. During the twenty years preceding the census of 1901 there was a fall in the death rate of 3.4 per thousand, of which, however, 1 per thousand is attributable to the decline in the birth rate, the balance being attributable to improved sanitary conditions.

_Territorial Divisions._--Australia is politically divided into five states, which with the island of Tasmania form the Commonwealth of Australia. The area of the various states is as follows:

Sq. m.
New South Wales 310,700
Victoria 87,884
Queensland 668,497
South Australia 903,690
Western Australia 975,920
---------
2,946,691
Tasmania 26,215
=========
Commonwealth 2,972,906

To the area of the Commonwealth shown in the table might be added that of New Guinea, 90,000 sq. m.; this would bring the area of the territory controlled by the Commonwealth to 3,062,906 sq. m. The distribution of population at the close of 1906 (4,118,000) was New South Wales 1,530,000, Victoria 1,223,000, Queensland 534,000, South Australia 381,000, Western Australia 270,000, Tasmania 180,000. The rate of increase since the previous census was 1.5% per annum, varying from 0.31 in Victoria to 2.06 in New South Wales and 6.9 in Western Australia.