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.]
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
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]

Map Route.