A Cleric In Early Australia

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31316, 11 March 1967, Page 4

A Cleric In Early Australia

Australia As It Is. By A. Clergyman. Flesch. 257 PP. The anonymous author of this book spent 13 years in Australia a century ago and in the soberly pedantic manner of the period shows himself to be a shrewd observer of men and conditions. It would be fairer to substitute

Australasia for the “Australia” of the title, because “A

Clergyman” spent enough time in New Zealand to make certain comparisons between the two countries—mostly, be it said, to New Zealand’s advantage, for he found the climate pleasanter, and the Maoris both more civilised and more intelligent than the aboriginal tribes of Australia. He was. not, however, wanting in strictures about the land-sharks of both coun-

tries, and attributes the long-drawn-out Maori wars partly to the sharp practices of the Pakeha.

A harrowing chapter is devoted to the danger of being lost in the Australian bush, and the folly of trying to find short-cuts through it, emphasising the golden rule that a river should always be followed downstream, as this would inevitably result in the finding of a habitation. Of the aborigines of the period “A Clergyman” has very little good to say, averring, with documentary proof, that they were capable of murdering whole families of white people who had been kind to them. On the other hand a single aborigine from a tribe situated far away could be, and often was, a reliable and devoted servant. Squatters, who paid a nominal rent for vast tracts of Government land, sometimes made large fortunes from sheep and cattle, and provided work for both convicts and ex-convicts, as well as indigent immigrants; but the man who could pay such an insignia, cant sum as 5s per acre for a free holding was relatively better off, as the Government were empowered to seize a squatter’s property if they wanted it for some other purpose. The reverend gentleman reserves some of his harshest judgments for the politicians of the time, who used their knowledge of current affairs to feather their own nests, and who wasted the country’s resources (oh dear! that seems to have a familiar ring) on projects which came to nothing, while neglecting to help the great causes of the Church, and the needs of education.

Embryo townships also had their problems. “Travelling Jews with trinkets, organgrinders, German bands, Ethiopian serenaders, circuses, electro-biologists and people of that class” are especially singled out for censure—though the meaning of the last-named pest seems a little obscure. Gold-rushes arel

described in detail, and the Chinese “fosacker” (sic) condemned for being the most accomplished swindler. Severe comments are also made upon the government practice of allowing settlers to go whithersoever they pleased instead of encouraging community life in which the young could “receive the benefits of education and religion.” It is to this untrammelled freedom of movement that the author attributes the growth of bush-ranging, breeding masteries* men with no respect for morality or human affection.

In a final chapter the author derides “Democracy,” which embodies, in his view, all the evils of "crooked legislation”

and a toofree enterprise, in which slick and unscrupulous elements exploited their less fortunate fellows. “The British lion” he says grandly “in Great Britain is a noble animal, stands by and sees that there is not a hair of our head touched; in Australia he is a ferocious brute, takes your head into his mouth and swallows you.” However much we may dissent from this patriotic sentiment (having regard to factory conditions in England at that time) the last sentence may have contained a modicum of truth. But our present world, however imperfect, has certainly advanced in humanitarianism since our clerical author’s day.