WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21246, 18 August 1934, Page 17

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

t An Empty Land. By the Hon. Sir f John Kirwan. Eyre and Spottisa woode. 322 pp. (15/- nei) e Sir John Kirwan, who is Presit dent of the Legislative Council of I Western Australia, has written a s most interesting book about a trip of 4000 miles through the undet veloped territories of his state. He e has not attempted a connected story 0 but appears to have put down intera esting facts as they occurred to him - about the places he visited, their a history, and the people who inhabit a them. Far from detracting from the :» interest of the book, this method, - or lack of method, has made it easV ier to read, and it is enlivened with t some excellent'stories. The tour was e made with the Federal Minister for g Lands (then Mr Latham) in 1932. 1 The journey included -600 miles by t railway, 3537 miles of motoring, > mostly over little-frequented bush 1 tracks, and two voyages aggregating c 1660 miles along the Western Aus- * tralian coast. :• Much of the early part of the book relates to the history of discovery s and settlement of the state, and the - author recalls many little-known s facts and incidents of those days. * Early settlers in Western Australia £ were of an excellent class, and their descendants to-day number among " the state's best citizens. Curiously f if was not until the eastern states 5 had begun to protest against their ' areas being used as convict settlements that Western Australia began i to receive convicts. These, however, " were mostly political prisoners, and many of them afterwards became * valuable citizens. The state was in 1 a condition of practical stagnation t until rich discoveries of gold opened the road to prosperity. ' Most interesting are Sir John Kirc wan's accounts of early voyages to J the Western Australian coast. The p forbidding nature of the coastal 1 lands deceived the visitors into believing that Western Australia was [ a vast, arid tract of country that ; would support only the most primi- [ tive life. William Dampier, who visited it first in 1688, was firmly | of this opinion, describing the in- ' habitants as "the miserablest people J in the world." It was the remark- ■ able energy, foresight, and organising ability of Captain (afterwards ! Sir James) Stirling that led to the ' successful settlement on the Swan [ river in 1829. The settlers were ; carefully selected. They included ; farmers, labourers, artificers, a doc- ' tor, a botanist, a Church of England ' clergyman, some business people, ! and several officials, including a ' lawyer. They were people of grit ' and determination, and they needed ; it all in those hungry early days. To-day, though the production of ! gold, wheat, wool, meat, fruit, tim- ! ber, pearls, pearl shell, and many other commodities has increased ! amazingly, the real resources of the state are practically untapped, vast [ areas are almost unsettled, fertile land, capable of enormous yields, lies uncultivated, huge mineral deposits are unworked. This is in essence the story that Sir John Kirwan has to tell. He emphasises the rich heritage that lies there for British people to develop, and the dangers to which lack of population and development expose it. His opinion is that the most hopeful prospect for the development of the territory is in the operation of chartered companies. Run on the right lines and with sufficient capital, such companies, he considers, could not fail to return substantial profits to the shareholders, while doing a great public service to the Empire and Australia in utilising and helping to people a great empty land.