CENTRAL AUSTRALIA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 September 1926, Page 7

CENTRAL AUSTRALIA.

CONFLICT OF OPINION

DESOLATE OR HABITABLE?

SYDNEY, Aug. 26. The large central heart of Australia has for a long time been the subject of much controversy among explorers, settlers and geographers (writes the Wellington Post’s Sydney correspondent). Smne assert that it is eminently suitable for - thei settlement of white men and women. Others declare just as emphatically that it is a- region of death and desolation. Many expeditions ha.ve been led to investigate the region’s possibilities, yet. the conflict of opinion still exists, and Australians are no nearer to learning the. real truth about- it than they were 20 or 30 years ago. The region remains an enigma. , , . This was emphasised at the beginning of this week, when two exploring parties returned to their home towns after long periods of inquiries. The leader of one said that- Central Australia. could be made into a- white man's country. The leader of the other stated that 'if Central Australia had any future it was one of even greater desolation.

CAN BE MADE FIT FOB, WHITE

SETTLERS

Sir Baldwin Spencer, of Melbourne, Well-known Australian authority on aborigines;, natural' history, anthropology, geology, and what not; has just returned to Melbourne; after -a four months’ trip into the interior. He was of opinion that Central Australia, Which l had sumported a. few blacks, could be made into, « white settler’s Country, as Arizona (U.S.A.) and the Malice (Victoria) had been, by the. application of science to agriculture and to means of overcoming the dry climate. Next to these the motor car and 1 the aeroplane -would l be the chief factors in- developing Central Australia. The wonderful fpiits and vegetables! grown at Alice Springs were typical of the results which could be achieved in this area. “WOULD GIVE YOU THE HORRORS.”

Contrast wit]] these views those: of Mr Donald Mackay. a. grazier of western.' New South Wales, who. to satisfy a whim .and> to prove for- himself the truth of Central Australia, financed! an expedition to the legion. and spent 'three months in traversing the country. mainly bv camels. He prevailed nporv Dr. Herbert a. leading Australia]), ethnologist, of Adelaide, to accompany him. and these two, with an expen'eiT'-cd 1 bu'shman-, went even' further afield than Sir Spencer Baldwin. They went -as far west as the Western Australian, border This is l what -he said!: “The country would! give you the horrors, it was so poor and worthless. and' what animal and, vegetable life there was looked miserable and parched. The few past-ora lists there will not last another 20 years, in my opinion. The country is deteriorating. You can travel for over 50 miles over that place- and not collect a hatful of grass. Milo after mile of the country from Charlotte Waters to Western. Australia is in a miserable condition. It must have carried millions of rabbits at one time, andi they have eaten everything, ring-barking the trees and leaving dead stumps. There are, not many rabbits there now—there is not much of anything—and it is only a matter of time before th© country becomes a. waste of shifting sand dunes.”

On. the journey the party met wild aborigines with whom they made freinds. The largest trible numbered 40 persons, who followed' the explorers for 30 miles, straggling along in the: dust of the camel team, carrying their spears and babies and dogs, many of which, miserable and flea-bitten, were too weak to walk. Yet the natives lived and seemed well-fed. That was truly a mystery, as lizards,' grubs, grass ,-art'd roots were staple articles of their diet. North- of Odnadatta, the party visited a •station where a few days before 300 horses had been shot because they could not be sold and were eating valuable food. They were beautiful animals. • formerly horsebreeding was the mainstay of the pastoralists in that country. Thus is given a summary of the oonfliotin£r views. Tn this ease, the scientist, with- ample faith in the -differences that scientists’ of the future might effect. looks at the country through obviously rosy spectacles. On the- other hand, the practical grazier, accustomed to the fertile plains of New South Wales, sees nothing but desolation', looking nei'haps' through glasses that are slightly darkened by pessimism'. The Australian of to-day, with the interest. of his country at heart, asks-: Which is right ? Perhaps' the rising generation, of to-day will receive the answer. It will he surprising -if older 'Australians will live to see results' which will give a definite ready oneiw.av or the- other.