The children on the beach and in the flowery meadows seemed to revel in their play, and their healthy faces and merry laughter proclaimed that doctors were not required. No wonder they looked so well, with such a beautiful place to live in! The summer temperature is never over 100°, and the winters are mild. With the ample supply of milk, butter, eggs, fruit, and other good things, the lives of these children are cast in a pleasant place.
Mr. Locke, the member for the district, has a great racing-stable at Lockville, and several horses are training for the coming races. I admired the beautiful creatures very much. Several of them have already won important races. Mr. Locke has also many dogs, which have taken prizes at various shows; he is further well known as one of the best judges of horseflesh in the colony, and the breeding of bloodstock is carried on extensively on his estate.
The recreation-ground is a very level ground of 20 acres, and sport of all kind is carried on there. Near the fine new bridge is the pretty English church, covered with ivy, with the peaceful God’s Acre adjoining it. St. Mary’s Catholic Church, served by that genial and benevolent parish priest, Father Tracey, is near. Busselton, in addition to its agricultural capabilities, offers a good opening for the timber business, and one gentleman, Mr. Porritt, late of Queensland, who has settled there, with the intention of developing this trade, has obtained a lease of the Ballarat tramline, and purchased two sawmills, as well as taking up 60,000 acres of forest land. Employment will thus be given to a great many men, so emigrants will be welcome.
Tin has been found close to Busselton, at Quindalup, and as water is plentiful close by, profit to the district is likely to arise from the discovery.
The morning sun was shining in all its splendour over the fair River Vasse when the driver of the four-in-hand mail-coach cried, “All aboard!” I climbed to the box-seat, and with a crack of the driver’s whip off we went. The day was beautiful; the air was exhilarating, and after the 50-mile journey to Karridale I felt inclined for a good dinner. Luckily I had supplied myself with sandwiches and sherry, or should not have fared too well. As the journey is nearly all through the bush, one must not expect to find luxuries in the way of provisions. The scenery and country we passed through satisfied my eye and soul, but after four hours in the coach I began to feel that the cravings of the material inner woman required satisfying also, and was very glad of the little basket that had been prepared for me. The peppermint-trees growing by the road are very pretty. These graceful trees grow in thickets, are very shady, and give a pungent scent. We passed many homesteads on our way, and right in the middle of the forest a large brick building loomed up. I thought at first it was a church, but found it was the Newtown Agricultural Hall. There are no people living about it now, but I suppose there will be a settlement some day, and Newtown is evidently taking time by the forelock. When I saw the first karri-tree I was surprised. Without doubt it is the handsomest kind of tree in the colony. It over-tops all the other trees, towering to the sky, with delicate feathery leaves, and the huge trunk, as straight as a mast, is covered by white smooth bark. Some of these trees are known to reach great heights—as much, indeed, as 400 feet. Captain Pemberton Walcott is stated to have measured one whose circumference was 60 feet. I did not see any quite as large as that, but they certainly looked gigantic.
On approaching Karridale we passed the racecourse and cricket-ground, where several lads were at play. This spot is singularly picturesque, and the district is one of the oldest in the colony. (Augusta, where the trees grow to 400 feet high, is 11 miles from Karridale, and is the site of one of the earliest settlements in 1826, but it has never been a favourite place, and has been abandoned several times.) The magnificent forest trees await the woodman’s axe; life and industry are everywhere; the people are like busy bees. I was agreeably surprised to find such a large township. It is a regular little colony of itself, right away in one corner of the continent of which we are so justly proud.
DAVIES’ KARRIDALE TIMBER STATION