CIVILISED ABORIGINALS AT KENDINUP STATION
The land regulations of Western Australia are so favourable to the colonist that, if well known in England and upon the continent of Europe, they would probably attract many families of the vine-growing, artisan, and small capitalist classes. Any person over the age of eighteen, who is the head of a family, can take up an area of 160 acres of land for a free or homestead farm. A deposit of £1 is required as a guarantee of bona fides. The applicant must live on the land for six months of each year, and within two years must spend £30 in clearing or cropping, or put down two acres of garden, orchard or vineyard; within five years, one quarter of the selection must be fenced and one-eighth cropped; within seven years the whole area must be fenced, and one quarter cultivated. The selector then becomes entitled to his certificate of title, after having paid for it and the cost of survey. Direct purchase can be made, if desired, of from 100 to 5000 acres. The land is valued at 10s. per acre, of which 10 per cent. is payable on application and the balance by four quarterly instalments. Applicants must fence in the course of three years and spend 5s. per acre within seven years, and then can acquire their certificates of title. Grazing farms can be taken up at a rental of 2½d. per acre. Pastoral leases, or grass rights for grazing purposes, can be got for the nominal rental of 2s. 6d. per 1000 acres per annum and upwards. Garden lots, from 5 up to 50 acres, can be obtained. In this case the land is valued at 20s. per acre, and the plot must be fenced within three years, one-tenth to be put under cultivation as a bona fide garden. The terms are 10 per cent. deposit on application and the balance in six half-yearly instalments. In addition to all this, the Government have done yet more to induce land settlements by offering assistance from the Agricultural Bank, created by the late Premier, Sir John Forrest, for the benefit of all who desire to make a home in Western Australia. This bank will lend money on freeholds at conditional purchase (already fenced) to the amount of £800. An application fee of 1 per cent. on the loan is demanded, and this amount covers cost of inspection and mortgage. The amount lent is repayable by the borrower in thirty years; for the first five years the interest is payable half-yearly. At the sixth year a sinking fund of 4 per cent. commences, and continues until the end of the thirty years, when the debt is wiped out. There are Government land agents in nearly every agricultural town of the colony, and a would-be selector arriving and communicating with the Government agent receives all the assistance he wishes in making his selection. The present population of Albany is about 3500.
The Residency, Albany
A fine Quarantine Station has lately been built at a cost of £10,000. The forts are very interesting. No doubt, in the future Albany will become an important Naval station. An Imperial Officer of the Royal Artillery is in command, there is a small garrison, and some murderous-looking guns are in readiness to give a warm reception to any enemy who may appear. Before leaving Albany I accepted an invitation to take a trip out into the Sound. This was named by Vancouver, in 1791, King George’s Sound, after the then reigning sovereign of England. It is sheltered by magnificent granite rocks or headlands, and the anchorage is perfect, for the islands of Breaksea, Michaelmas, and Haul Off Rock—an immense block of stone, almost like a mediæval fortress—break the ocean swell. The beauties of King George’s Sound have been well known since the first navigators sought refuge in its quiet waters, and its maritime value can never cease.
I said “Good-bye” with much regret to the many friends made during my short stay in this little town, where even the Railway Reserve is a perfect garden of Arum lilies. These peerless flowers seem to grow wild, and their stately heads are to be seen everywhere. The scent of the boronia is wafted on the breeze from afar; you hear the merry laughter of boating-parties and of children who come along with their hands full of gorgeous wild flowers. One of the townsfolk brought me a lovely collection of orchids, of which there are many varieties to be found hereabout; another friend brought me a collection of Western Australia curiosities, shells, corals, &c.; indeed I was overwhelmed with kindness by the warm-hearted people, and could not but be sorry to leave a place where I had been received with so much kindness.