PART IV.—THE PRIMARY INDUSTRIES.
CHAPTER I.
THE PASTORAL INDUSTRY.
Importance of Industry.—Small Beginnings in New South Wales.—Extension of Industry.—Stocking of Darling Downs and Western Queensland.—Rush for Pastoral Lands.—Difficulties of Early Squatters.—Influx of Victorian Capital.—Changes in Method of Working Stations.—Boom in Pastoral Properties.—Checks from Drought.—Discovery of Artesian Water.—Conservation of Surface Water.—Introduction of Grazing Farm System.—Closer Settlement of Darling Downs.—Cattle-Rearing.—Meat-Freezing Works.—Overstocking.—Dairying.—Station Routine.—Charm of Pastoral Life.—Shearing.—Hospitality of Squatters.—Attraction of Industry as Investment and Occupation.
The pastoral industry in Queensland is, in point of duration, well within the compass of a single life. In about seventy years it has attained its present dimensions, and, as progress in the early years was very slow, its magnitude to-day supplies striking testimony to the energy and enterprise of two generations. The description of Queensland as a huge sheep and cattle farm with contributive industries, which without very great extravagance might have been offered forty years ago, has long ceased to be applicable. But though other industries have grown into importance, reducing its pre-eminence, the pastoral still retains its unquestioned lead and is deservedly regarded as the main source of the State's wealth. Bearing in mind that the total exports from Queensland for 1907 were rather over fourteen and a-half millions sterling, of which pastoral produce claimed more than half, it will be seen that this title to precedence cannot be challenged. With an abatement of £529,000 for butter—dairying being associated with agriculture—this imposing sum is the direct product of the natural grasses. It can hardly be surprising then, after realising the potential wealth of these pastures, that visitors should be struck with the fact that rainfall—past, present, and prospective—is a constant and very prominent topic in all grades of social intercourse.
That a continent so suited to the abundant propagation of animal life should have been so poorly equipped by Nature with an indigenous fauna can only be accounted for by Australia's primeval isolation. Similar vast prairie lands, which in America sustained countless herds of bison and in Africa literally swarmed with antelope and many species of game, were in Australia almost uninhabited. The absence of large rivers and a general scarcity of water had doubtless much to do with this destitute condition of the great pasture lands of the interior, but still the wonder remains that a continent which now carries more sheep than any other country in the world should have been in its original state, except along its coastal belt, almost tenantless. The fierce carnivora of the older world were entirely unrepresented, the principal denizen of the lonely land being the timid kangaroo; but the curious problems presented by the Australian fauna have compensated the naturalist for its modest numbers.
In Queensland what is recognised as the Western Interior occupies about half the area of the State and is distinct in its geological formation from the coastal belt, the waters of which run into the ocean to the east and north. The region of these watersheds, with the exception of some comparatively limited areas of downs country on the heads of the rivers, is regarded as unsuitable for sheep, the rainfall being more abundant than on the Western waters and the grass coarser, so that cattle are almost exclusively run there. In the Western Interior are the true sheep pastures. The farther one goes west the more treeless the country becomes. Here undulating downs for the most part stretch to the horizon, intersected by watercourses fringed with timber, and although in summer many of these creeks shrink to a chain of disconnected waterholes, few of which are permanent, they offer abundant opportunities for water conservation. In the last few years many for several miles of their course have been converted into running streams by artesian bores.
Before, however, dwelling on the present position, we must briefly glance at the origin of pastoral enterprise in Australia and its tardy extension to Queensland.
As soon as settlement was established, the new land had to be stocked with the domesticated animals of the old. Captain Phillip, the first Governor, in 1788 made a very modest start. He brought with him from England 7 horses, 7 cattle, and 29 sheep, besides pigs, rabbits, and poultry. Remembering that in those days England was from six to nine months distant from the new settlement, it is not perhaps surprising that pastoral progress was slow. In 1800 there were only 6,124 sheep and 1,044 cattle in Australia. But five years prior to this the seed destined to produce a giant growth was already germinating. A shrewd young soldier had detected the germ of Australia's future wealth. With a strange prescience, unaided by experience, Captain Macarthur recognised that the dry climate of Australia was peculiarly adapted to the growth of a fine type of wool. Starting from most unpromising ewes from India, he gradually improved the strain by the introduction of Spanish blood. He was fortunate at the start in getting three rams from the Cape, part of a gift from the King of Spain to the Dutch Government, and by sedulous culling with a bold disregard for carcass, although fat wethers at the time sold for £5, he succeeded in establishing a good merino flock the wool from which created an excellent impression in England. English manufacturers, who had hitherto drawn their limited stocks of clothing wool from Spain, welcomed the promise of a new source of supply.