The next day I left Yalgoo, longing ardently for a breath of sea air once more. After a journey of eight hours in the train I arrived at Geraldton, on the shores of Champion Bay; the town nearest the point at which the history of the colony really commences. It is a shipping port for a large agricultural and pastoral country, although as yet only 2000 acres are under cultivation. I went for many beautiful drives, and one night to a “social” given by the footballers, to which I was invited; but as I did not dance, and contented myself with being a “wallflower,” my participation in the enjoyment was not very keen; I consequently returned early to my comfortable parlour at the Club Hotel. The new public buildings here are quite an ornament to the town, and the people may well be proud of them. There are also some other fine buildings and many nice shops. Altogether Geraldton is a very jolly place in which to spend a holiday. It can be reached from Perth by boat instead of the long train journey of 297 miles, for the steamers going to the far north of Western Australia and Singapore every fortnight always call; there are also several coasting-boats. The extensive and rich goldfields of the Murchison make Geraldton a very important place, and in course of time, when the North is more known and visited, it will, no doubt, become one of the most important towns in Western Australia.
Some beautiful pearls were shown me by a trader from Sharks Bay in the North-west district of Western Australia, and I wished I were a queen who could order a necklace of them. As it was I had to content myself with one for a ring. They were really exquisite gems, especially three pink ones. The trader also had two black ones, which are rare and very valuable, but I prefer those of delicate hue.
Pearls to the value of £285,000 and pearl shell valued at £1,000,000 have been raised from the North West Fisheries during the last ten years. Nearly two hundred luggers, with over a thousand Malay, Japanese, Chinese, and Manilla men, with whites for officers, are engaged in the pearl industry. For diving, natives are chiefly employed, they being such wonderful swimmers and divers. Occasionally dissensions take place between these mixed people and their masters. Not long ago a terrible tragedy occurred on a pearling vessel, the Ethel, and the captain, his son, and the first mate were cruelly murdered by some of the Manilla and Malay crew. The offenders escaped at the time, but were afterwards captured (chiefly by the instrumentality of a poor Chinese cook, who was loyal), and have since paid the penalty of their terrible crime.
There is a pretty river near this place, called the Chapman, which falls into Champion Bay. Garnets are found in the sand near the mouth of it, and you may be sure that any one who visits the place spends some time looking for the jewels. I was no exception to the rule, and found a few small ones, but until they are polished they are not very beautiful.
The orange groves are exquisite, and produce quantities of splendid oranges. Mr. Jupp, one of the growers, had just sent into Geraldton some immense loads, the whole of his golden crop. The rainfall having been exceptional in the previous season, the country was bright with grass and flowers. It seemed quite a pity the fine grass should not be feeding more cattle.
The view from the top of the lighthouse, where we stopped on the way back from a river picnic, is very grand. The rocky Abrolhos, 35 miles away, with the surrounding agricultural country, Champion Bay, and, farther out still, the grand rolling Indian Ocean, make up a most impressive scene. The lighthouse has a revolving white light, brilliantly flashing every 40 seconds, and visible for 16 miles; two other lights, lower down, showing red rays, visible from the north and south. Another day I drove to Greenough Flats, a level and fertile plain, with many fine crops, principally wheat, under cultivation. These flats were, no doubt, in former days vast lagoons, which accounts for the unlimited supply of good underground water. The grass is very nutritious, and the sheep and cattle looked fat. At Minchooka, Mr. Redhead’s station, the stock was looking exceptionally well, and a fine crop of wheat returned 26 bushels per acre from 11 acres. Mr. T. McGuiness, of Greenough Back Flats, lately had a peculiar experience while cleaning out his well, which is 96 feet deep, and was dry. In the hope of obtaining a fresh supply, Mr. McGuiness sank the well 13 feet deeper, and, when driving down his bar, struck water, which spouted up so quickly and with such a rush that he had hardly time to escape drowning; the water rose 30 feet in a very short space of time.
The Greenough river runs between the flats, and there is a nice little township, with public offices, hotels, churches, and many comfortable dwelling-houses; there are also several large farms in the district, which is a magnificent grain-producing one.
Newmarracarra Station, 20 miles from Geraldton, was formerly the property of Mr. Maitland Browne, the resident magistrate, who at one time used his land exclusively for horse-breeding. Thirty thousand acres of the station are now utilised for sheep-farming at great profit, there are 24,000 sheep on the run in splendid condition, as well as many beautiful high-bred cattle. Mr. McKenzie Grant, the owner, manages this station himself, and has spent £55,000 on improvements. A grand water supply comes from the Greenough river and also from twelve springs in different parts of the land, which is very picturesque, with its hills and rich flats, covered with waving grass, and, in some spots, is brilliant with wild flowers. All kinds of native trees add beauty to the scene.
Mr. Broadhurst, to whom I am indebted for all the information relating to the Abrolhos, 35 miles from the mainland, gave me, as a great favour, a copper coin from the Batavia, wrecked there in 1629, also a part of a pair of scissors that have nearly lost their form, and other relics of the past. A very interesting curiosity is a pair of large silver buttons with links, in splendid preservation and very slightly tarnished. The figures on these buttons represent Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. The Abrolhos are the abode of countless millions of birds, principally the noddy and sooty tern, which in the breeding season congregate there in such numbers that the sky is quite obscured by their flight, and everything is in almost total darkness. The group of islands have been leased from the Government since 1883 by Messrs. Broadhurst and McNeill, who command a very large trade in guano. The main stations in the group are Rat, Pelsart, and Gun Islands, on each of which there are commodious managers’ quarters and laboratory, besides kitchen and quarters for 48 hands. No Australian should neglect to see the relics of the wrecks on the Abrolhos that are in the Perth Museum. Mr. Broadhurst showed me a book, printed in the Dutch language, that he accidentally came across on a London bookstall in 1895, being then on a tour and engaged in collecting information concerning early Australia. The book bore the date of 1647, and has since been translated into English by Mr. Siebenhaur, a Dutch gentleman in Perth, and proved to be, strange to say, a complete narrative of the wreck of the Batavia and the massacre of the people, in 1629, at the Abrolhos Islands. The Batavia was the commodore’s ship of a fleet of eleven vessels sent from Amsterdam in 1628 to the East Indies in search of treasure and to form a colony on one of the islands. Storms arose, the commodore’s vessel was separated from the others, and finally got down among the perilous banks of the Abrolhos, where the vessel became a wreck. After much danger, the people, numbering several hundreds—soldiers, sailors, women and children—were landed on two of the islands, several trips having to be made between the ship and the shore before this could be effected. Some water and bread was also got ashore, as well as some cases of treasure, jewels, and gold-laced clothing belonging to the Dutch Government that the commodore was anxious to save. The ship shortly afterwards foundered and the hardships of the seafarers commenced. It was found that there was very little fresh water on the island, so the commodore, Pelsart, and several of the men set off in the sloop, which had been saved, to the mainland to look for water for their fellows. After much difficulty six of them succeeded in landing by swimming, the shore being stony and rocky, and great breakers beating violently against the rocks so that it was not safe to take the sloop in too near. They saw smoke rising, and going towards it, saw four dark figures creeping on their hands and knees, who, on the approach of the sailors, leaped to their feet and fled away at full speed. Each carried a stick, no doubt a boomerang. Around the fires were the bones of birds. The savages were naked, and were the first ever seen on Australian soil by white men. The sailors dug holes, trying to find fresh water, but could find very little, and returned to the ship disconsolate. The commodore then, knowing that by returning to the islands he could do no good for his fellow sufferers, determined to return to Batavia for assistance. On arrival there he obtained speedy help from the Government, and provided with all necessaries and a good crew, at once set out again for the Abrolhos to succour the shipwrecked people. On arrival there they saw, close to where they had been wrecked, smoke from several fires, and were much rejoiced, hoping to find all or most of the poor people alive. Having cast anchor, the commodore, taking with him a cask of water, bread and wine, went in his boat to the highest island, but on arrival there found no one, at which he was much astonished. Jumping ashore, they saw a little boat coming round the northern point with four men rowing; one of them jumped ashore and welcomed the commodore, but begged him to return to the ship, as there was a party of miscreants who intended to seize the vessel. He then told the terrible story of the massacre. These miscreants had murdered 120 people on the island, now called Pelsart Island, or “Batavia’s Churchyard.” The commodore then sorrowfully returned to the ship. The man who told the commodore all this was named Webbey Hayes, and he with forty others had tried their best to save their comrades, and were then on what they called Long Island. The commodore took some boats and men and brought them away, arming them with muskets. With these he proceeded to Batavia’s Churchyard and captured the mutineers. They found them all dressed in the beautiful clothes trimmed with gold lace belonging to the Government, and jewels were scattered about in all directions. The mutineers were divested of their gay clothes, put in irons and conveyed to Seal Island, to remain there till they should be tried, which was afterwards done, and they were then executed for their crimes. This is a very short and crude synopsis of the interesting translation of the Dutch book of which I have spoken, but may serve to give some idea of the Abrolhos. The many curios of this time that are spoken of on page 51 are well worth seeing. Previous to this, in 1540, Portuguese vessels had been driven on to the coasts of the Great South Land, as it was called. Houtmann, a Dutchman who had served with the Portuguese, had sighted the cluster of rocky islets and called them Abrolhos, a contraction of the Portuguese “Abro vos olhos” (“Keep your eyes open”). In far-back ages Chinese junks used to sail down to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the natives of that part of Australia are now said to have a distinctly Mongolian cast of countenance. Marco Polo, at the close of the thirteenth century, alluded to the Great South Land. Allusions to this unknown land are also met with in writings dating as far back as Alexander the Great in the fourth century; Strabo, Pliny and Ptolemy also make mention of a mysterious territory, which was probably the continent of Australia. Dampier is said to have been the first Englishman to land on the coast of Western Australia, which was then, in the reign of William III., called New Holland. His report was so unfavourable, that Australia was left to itself again until 1770, when Captain Cook landed at Botany Bay, New South Wales, and not until 60 years afterwards was Western Australia found to be suitable for colonising. In 1829 the first governor, Captain (afterwards Sir James) Stirling, with his family and over 60 settlers, arrived at the Swan River and founded the settlement which is now the city of Perth; two years previous to this, Captain Fremantle had hoisted the British flag at the entrance of the river, and the port of Fremantle is named after him.
