CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

Tales Of A Fascinating Land “Wide Horizons,” by R. H. Croll. Sydned: Angus and Robertson.

Of outstanding interest is "Wide Horizons,” the fruits of certain expeditions made by the author with chosen companions into little-known districts of Central Australia. Here, to use Mr. Groll’s own words: —

A cattle station may be greater than a European country; one in the northwest contains nine and a quarter million acres. . . . “Where are your men?" I asked “Down the paddock,’’ returned the manager "about seventy miles away. Another man told me that his front gate was in a direct hue, eighty miles from his front door.

A large section of the book is given to consideration of the aboriginal question, and not too hopeful suggestions as to the possibility of survival of a race which, seen through the sympathetic eyes of the present author, is worthy of preservation. Some striking and definitely beautiful pictures of aboriginals, both male and female, are among the most interesting of many illustrations. It is significant that these are all of the aboriginal in his "wild” state. The “civilised” specimens in their shapeless European clothes appear pitiful and degraded in spite of a certain good-nature of expression, particularly among the children. The author quotes Professor Porteus, of Hawaii, who says “. . . . that the general impression that the black-fel-low is of very low mentality is, to my mind, wholly wrong.” /Vnother authority considers that “their intellectual development has reached heights that few white Australians realise.” The real trouble is that the white man expects the black instantly to understand and to admire his customs and outlook on life, while his own attitude towards the black remains one of contemptuous indifference. The truth seems to be that the black’s attitude is sometimes one of critical scorn. ’Take, for instance, the attitude of the intelligent aboriginal, bound by the complicated and exceedingly strict marriage laws which are designed, whether consciously or not, to prevent danger of inbreeding, who remarked with scorn “white pfella alia same dog. Catchem any pfella.” The questions discussed by Mr. Croll in this connection are too numerous and varied to be touched on in a brief review, and should be read in their entirety’ by students of anthropology and by those who are concerned with the preservation of an interesting race. “Wide Horizons” tells of the fascination of the inlfind, particularly at sunrise and sunset, when the colouring of sometimes desolate wastes must l>e seen to be believed, and the forms of the mountain ranges take on a strangeness which seems not of this earth. We read of the opal fields and learn from an old Hungarian miner how in his country it takes years to bring opal to the surface as it is acclimatised and rested at various upward stages to avoid cracking and loss of beauty on striking the full light of day. There is a picture of the mica mines, “surely the most remarkable landscape in the world,” which reads like a transformation scene from some pantomime. There are tales of reptile, bird, beast and flower which all contribute to the fascination of a book which whets the reader’s curiosity concerning the still barely-touched inland of Australia.