I need not point out to the reader, that the above table only shews the mean of the thermometer during a certain hour of the day; the temperature during the night must necessarily be much lower; the coolness of the night, indeed, generally speaking, makes up for the mid-day heat. There are some days of the year when hot winds prevails, which are certainly very disagreeable, if not trying. Their occurrence, however, is not frequent, and will be easily accounted for from natural causes. They sometimes continue for three or more days, during which time clouds of dust fill the air, and whirlwinds cross the plains, but the dryness of the Australian atmosphere considerably influences the feelings on such occasions, and certainly produces a different effect upon the system from that which would be produced at a much lower temperature in a more humid climate; for, no doubt, it is to the united effects of heat and moisture, where they more or less exist, that the healthiness or unhealthiness of a country may be ascribed. In such countries, generally speaking, either teaming vapours, or malaria from dense woods or swamps naturally tries the constitution, but to its extreme dryness, and the absence of all vegetable decay, it appears to me that the general salubrity of South-east Australia is to be attributed. So rarified, indeed, is the atmosphere, that it causes an elasticity of spirits unknown in a heavier temperature. So the hot winds, of which I have been speaking, are not felt in the degree we should be led to suppose. Like the air the spirits are buoyant and light, and it is for its disagreeableness at the time, not any after effects that a hot wind is to be dreaded. It is hot, and that is all you can say; you have a reluctance to move, and may not rest so well as usual; but the spirits are in no way affected; nor indeed, in the ordinary transactions of business does a hot wind make the slightest difference. If there are three or four months of warm weather, there are eight or nine months of the year, during which the weather is splendid. Nothing can exceed the autumn, winter, and spring of that transparent region, where the firmament is as bright as it would appear from the summit of Mount Blanc. In the middle of winter you enjoy a fire, the evenings are cold, and occasionally the nights are frosty. It is then necessary to put on warmer clothing, and a good surtout, buttoned across the breast, is neither an uncomfortable nor unimportant addition. Having said thus much of the general salubrity of the climate of South Australia, I would observe, in reference to what may be said against it, that the changes of temperature are sudden and unexpected, the thermometer rising or falling 50 degrees in an hour or two. Whether it is owing to the properties I have ascribed, that the climate of this place as also of Sydney should be fatal to consumptive habits, I do not know, but in both places I have understood that such is the case, and in both I have had reason to regret instances. It has been said that influenza prevailed last year in Adelaide to a great extent, and that it carried off a great many children and elderly persons. An epidemic, similar in its symptoms, may have prevailed there, and been severe in its progress, but it hardly seems probable that the epidemic of this country should have been conveyed through constant change of air, the best cure for such a disease, to so distant a part of the world. With all its salubrity, indeed, I believe it may be said, that South Australia is subject to the more unimportant maladies like other countries, but that there are no indigenous disorders of a dangerous kind, and that it is a country which may strictly be called one of the healthiest in the world, and will, in all probability, continue so, as long as it shall be kept clear of European diseases.
Having thus endeavoured to give a description of the general character and climate of this limited but certainly beautiful portion of the Australian continent, without encumbering my description with any remark on the principal and particular sources of wealth it possesses, which not being usual, could not, or rather would not, have been considered applicable. I hope the object I have had in view will be sufficiently clear to the reader. I have endeavoured to point out with an impartial pen, the real capabilities of the province, and the nature of those productions which are most congenial to her soil. Without undue praise on the one hand, or unjust depreciation on the other, it has been my desire to present a faithful picture of her to my readers, and I hope it will appear from what I have said, as is really and truly the case, that both in climate and other respects it is a country peculiarly adapted to the pursuits and habits of my countrymen. That its climate so far approaches that of England, as to be subject to light and partial frosts, which render it unfit for the cultivation of tropical productions, but make it essentially an agricultural country, capable of yielding as fine cereal grain as any country in the world, of whatever kind it may be--that at the same time the greater mildness of the climate makes it favourable to the growth of a variety of fruits and vegetables, independently of European fruit trees and culinary herbs, which put it in the power of the settler to secure the enjoyment of greater luxuries and comforts, than he could possibly expect to have done in his own country, except at a great expense, and that as far as the two great desiderata go, on which I have been dwelling, it is a country to which an Englishman may migrate with the most cheerful anticipations.
CHAPTER III/III.
SEASONS
CAUSE WHY SOUTH AUSTRALIA HAS FINE GRAIN
EXTENT OF CULTIVATION
AMOUNT OF STOCK
THE BURRA-BURRA MINE
ITS MAGNITUDE
ABUNDANCE OF MINERALS
ABSENCE OF COAL
SMELTING
ORE
IMMENSE PROFITS OF THE BURRA-BURRA
EFFECT OF THE MINES ON THE LABOUR MARKET
RELUCTANCE OF THE LOWER ORDERS TO EMIGRATE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CANADA AND AUSTRALIA
THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES
STATE OF SOCIETY
THE MIDDLE CLASSES
THE SQUATTERS
THE GERMANS
THE NATIVES
AUTHOR'S INTERVIEWS WITH THEM
INSTANCES OF JUST FEELING
THEIR BAD QUALITIES
PERSONAL APPEARANCE
YOUNG SETTLERS ON THE MURRAY
CONCLUSION.
It was my object in the last chapter, to confine my observations strictly to the agricultural and pastoral capabilities of the province of South Australia, which I thought I could not better do than by describing the nature of its climate and soil, for on these depend the producing powers of every country. In speaking of the climate, however, I merely adverted to its temperature, leaving its seasons out of question for the time, intending to close my remarks on these heads, by a short review of the state of the agricultural and pastoral interests of the colony at the present date.
It will be borne in mind that the seasons of Australia are the reverse of our own; that when in England the ground is covered with snow, there the sun is hottest, and that when summer heats are ripening our fruits, in Australia it is the coldest season of the year, December, January, February, and March being the summer months; June, July, August, and September the winter ones. An experience of ten years has shewn that the seasons of South Australia are exceedingly regular, that the rains set in within a few days of the same period each successive year, and that during the winter the ground gets abundantly saturated. This regularity of season may be attributed to the almost insular position of the promontory of Cape Jarvis, and may be said to be almost local, in elucidation of which, I may refer to what I have stated in the former part of my work, of the state of the weather in the valley of the Murray when the expedition was proceeding up its banks in the month of August, 1844. For some time before there had been heavy rains in the hills, and it was with some difficulty the drays crossed them. During our stay at Moorundi, the ranges were covered with heavy clouds, and the mountain streams were so swollen as to stop one of my messengers; but the sky over the valley of the Murray was as clear as crystal, morning mists it is true curled up at early dawn from the bosom of its waters, but they were soon dissipated, and a sharp frosty night was succeeded by a day of surpassing beauty.
The regularity, however, both in its commencement and in the quantity of moisture that falls during the rainy season in the colony, enables the agriculturist to calculate with certainty upon it, and the only anxiety of the farmer is to get his grain into the ground sufficiently early, if possible, to escape the first hot winds. In a region, portions of which are subject, it must be confessed, to long continued drought, this is no inconsiderable advantage, although South Australia is not singular in this respect, for the rainy seasons in the Port Phillip districts are, I believe, equally regular and more abundant, whilst the climate of Van Diemen's Land almost approaches to that of England; neither, indeed, fairly speaking, is South Australia more favoured than those of her immediate neighbours in the quality of her soil. Van Diemen's Land is the granary of the southern seas, and there is unquestionably a very great proportion of the very best soil in the Port Phillip district. Nevertheless that of South Australia has yielded a finer and a heavier grain than has ever been produced in those colonies, but the reason of this is, that with a naturally rich soil to work upon, the agriculturists of South Australia have spared no pains in cultivating their lands, but there can be no doubt that with equal care and attention both the Vandemonians and the settlers of Port Phillip would produce an equally fine sample. The farmers of South Australia have enhanced the value of their colony by their energy and skill in cultivating it, and can boast of having sent the finest sample of wheat to England that has ever been exhibited in her market.
South Australia, in its length and breadth, contains about 300,000 square miles, or in round numbers more than 190,000,000 acres. The limits of location, however, do not exceed 4000 miles, or 7,000,000 acres. In this area, however, a great portion of desert country is included, or such, at least, as at the present moment is considered so. Of the more available land, 470,000 acres have been purchased, but the extent of country occupied by sheep and cattle stations is not known.
It may be necessary here to observe, that the returns of the land under cultivation last year were published after I left the colony; but the comparison between the two previous years will shew the increase and decrease of the different grains, sufficiently to establish the progress of agricultural pursuits in the colony. In the year 1845, the number of acres of wheat sown was 18,848. In 1846 it was 26,135. Of barley, there were in the former year 4,342 acres, in the latter only 3,490. Of oats, there were 1,485 in the first year, which, in 1846, increased to 1,963. It would thus appear, that the increase of cultivated land in the course of one year amounted to between 6000 and 7000 acres, and that more than 400 agriculturists were added to the list of landed proprietors. The necessary consequence of such extensive farming operations is that the produce far exceeds the wants of the settlers, and that there is a considerable surplus for exportation; the price of the best flour being from 12 pounds to 13 pounds per ton, whereas for a short period in 1839 it was 120 pounds!!!