THROUGH DARKEST AUSTRALIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19904, 25 September 1926, Page 23

THROUGH DARKEST AUSTRALIA.

WITH THE DOUGLAS WYLIE EXPEDITION. NEW ZEALANDER’S 10,000MILE JOTJENEY. Written for the Otago Daily Times. By Bebnakd O. Rtdeb, F.R.G.S. From the early sixteenth century, Australia has attracted navigators and explorers, and from that date to the present time

many have attempted to cross its desert wastes, and have perished. Those men who pioneered this vast continent of almost three million square miles, are legion, and the trial is marked with graves showing where some great adventure reached its glorious end. Burke, Wills and Jones, So Witt and William Dumpier—how well such men recall the lines “On the sand drift on • the veldt side, in the ien scrub we lay, that our sons might follow after by tho bones on the way.” Amongst the names intimately, linked with the discovery of Western Australia, with its million square miles and vast empty north, is that of Sir Goorgo Grey, who, in 1836, led an expedition equipped by the Royal Geographical Society and the British Government. After penetrating the north-west coast, ho was seriously wounded by the blacks, but loft behind many valuable records, and was successful in discover-

ing many of the principal rivers. Fifty years a-go there was no European settlement in this vast tract of country, and even to-day there are but scattered townships, until the north-west coast is reached, where, for hundreds of miles, tho white man has not penetrated. It is estimated that in the north-west there are under 2000 whites, arid yet w’ithin a few days’ sail of this vast empty north are countries containing countless millions of coloured people. Along the north-west coast the natives still live as they havp lived through the ages past, with their customs unchanged; and a more crafty and treacherous race it would bo hard to find. Mon of line physique, they live a nomadic life, seeking food where it is plentiful, and moving to more productive localities when their supply is diminishing. With a view to penetrating into tho for north-west of Australia and ascertaining the possibilities of this little known part, an expedition was recently organised, and, under the leadership of Mr Douglas Stuart Wylie, of Auckland, loft Now Zealand last May. It returned recently after covering over 10.000 miles by aeroplane, camels, sailing ship, and motor cars, and experienced many thrills and hardships during their tour. ’ Tho members of the expedition were Mr Douglas S. Wylie (leader), Mr William J. Maiden. Mr Bernard C. Ryder, F.R.G.S.. Mr E. J. Stuart, F.R.G.S., Mr Walter H. Sully. Captain Johnson, and Mr W. J. I.ingford. Leaving Sydney, the party pushed through to Perth, a distance of 3700 miles, where tho headquarters were established for the assembling of the gear. After 2500 miles of tram;!, broken by hurried stops and changes, we arrived at C'oldea, a desolate spot on the tiiugrf of the famous Nullabor Plains, and (he me"ting place for the aboriginal blacks within a radius.of throe or four Hundred miles. From the Miisgrove ’lunges, Codnadarta and Alice Springs, they work their weary way south and touch Coldea, a stopping place in the desert, trading tneir crude ware, boomerangs, spears, and null tuulla's (fighting sticks) to the eager traveller. Of all the native races in the world, the South Australian aboriginal is the most abject and miserable. His sparse frame is clothed with a few tattered garments, and witli his matter hair and abject look, he presents a sorry appearance. Apparently fashion lias never reached this remote spot, for we saw many ludicrous clothes and hats worn. One old gin, who must have been well over the allotted span, disported herself in a multi-coloured jumper, and upon her bond she wore a much battered felt bat. The men ap-

peared eyes, dirtier than the women, and they approached with a furtive look, seeking tobacco,. Although very primitive in their habits, they proved astonishingly adept with the boomerang. From Ooldea we proceeded across the Nullabor (“ No Tree") Plains, as devoid of vegetation as the name implies, and in the evening, with not a tree in sight, and as far as the eye can see, nothing but flat country,, the Nullabor Plain was certainly a desolate scene. For over three hundred miles the rails are absolutely j dead straight, and it is ackomvledged to I be the greatest length of straight line in the world. Fortunately right robbed us of further vision of this barren country, and we soon passed into more pleasant lands, more fertile as we progressed. Perth was a refreshing respite from our lengthy and dusty journey across Australia, and, although it rained practically every day, our time was fully taken up in assembling gear in preparation for the journey north. Provisions had to be packed, as well as the scientific gear, and We had over two tons of baggage at our headquarters in readiness for our departure. Every care had to be exercised to see that nothing was omitted, and we had as weird an assortment of gear as would grace any general store —anchors, chains, shark hooks, sides of bacon, tins of trade lollies, tobacco for trading, as well as clay pipes, blankets, soap, towels, electric torches, and spare batteries, rifles and ammunition, specimen tanks, special cameras, two motion picture cameras, and tripods, a cask of formalin for preserving deep sea specimens glass tanks for special photographs of marine life, pillows, compasses, white suits, and leggings, haversacks, cases of lemons and apples, two huge nets, and coils of rope. From Perth to Broome is a far call, and is but a succession of small townships, growing more diminutive as we progress— Carnarvon, Cossack, Port Headland, and Roebuck Bay, where lies the scattered township of Broome.

THE CITY OF PEARLS. It may not be commonly known that Western Australia supplies three-quarters of the world’s output of pearls, and Broome, lying near the Buccaneer Archipelago, is the source of the main supply. It boasts a population of but 2000, as mixed a crowd as one would find on an American freighter. There were Japanese, Malays, Goupaugcrs, half-caste aboriginals, Englishmen, and Jews. Broome is a typical, townshio, where East holds sway. The apathy that characterises her Eastern ports can he found •at this most northerly point of civilisation, and its European inhabitants rest from the swelter under their bungalow roofs, putting off until .to-morrow the things they could well do to-day. And they lift their eyes seaward where the luggers drag their Japanese divers along the sen bed, hoping that the price of pearl shell will rise and that the shellopener will remember them when he finds the pearls. In a quaint graveyard a mile across the flats sleeps an army of pearlers young men who have lost their lives in the quest for pearls, and the stones that head their graves with their weird Japanese characters arc mute evidence of their vast numbers. There arc countless hundreds of them in pitiful rows, young men of the early twenties, who left their homes in sunny distant Japan and gave up their lives that my lady may adorn her neck wi.h their tears.

One of the most important industries carried on i:i Western Australia is that of pearling. There arc two distinct “fishing grounds”—that of tho north-west extending from the vicinity of NorthWest Gape to beyond Admiralty Gulf, a distance of about Sof> miles, and the smaller “fishery” at Shark Kay. At the former. Broome (in Roebuck Bay) is tile principal centre from which operations are conducted, hut, further south, Port llcdland, Cossack, and ( asdnw are of importance. From this fishery large white mother-of-pearl shell, known scientifically ns M. rnargaictifera. is taken, practically all of it collected by divers using divine equipment.

At Shark Bay (the centre of population is Denham, situ -ted upon the western shore of Peron Peninsula), the smaller and loss valuable mother-of-pearl shell oyster, known scientifically as M. imhricala, is found. Divers are not employed here, the shell being taken by dredges or by hand upon the shallower “banks.” Western Australia produces about three-f-airths of Hi o world’s mother-of-pearl shell output, and the industry dates back to the early 'fifties. The maximum pro-.

duction reached during 1913-14 represented £84,000 for pearls and £237,000 for shell. During the past 10 years pearls with a stated value of over £500,000 have been taken, while the pearl shell “fished” was worth over £2,000,000. The industry employs a fluctuating population of some hundreds of Europeans and over 1000 Asiatics (divers, crews, etc.), and the number of vessels licensed in the industry varies from about 200 to over 300. At the present time the industry is not so flourishing, the price of pearl shell hardly compensating for the cost of production, while very few pearls have been obtained. At Broome, the members of the party, under Air Wylie, chartered an aeroplane to look over the proposed route along the coast, and returned to Broome after travelling over *9O miles. INTO THE WILD NORTH-WEST. t The party, together with a mixed crew of a Mexican, Chilian, Indian, and four aboriginal natives, left Broome on the Mildred in the early hours of June 15, and a heavy sea that was running somewhat enlivened matters. It was a pitch-black night, and we stowed away scientific gear, kinematograph outfits, tanks, nets, provisions, with the aid

of a solitary hurricane lantern, that swung with the pitching and rolling of the vessel. It _ was an eerie scene, the vessel rolling in the seas, and the party working with but the fitful light from the lantern. The morning broke cold and grey, and a foothold on the deck of the 16-ton Mildred was an impossibility. We were 14 in all, and how “Jimmie," our Indian cook, contrived to make breakfast for us is a mystery, for spray was lashing on deck as he bent over his tiny fire, yet he produced some most wonderful coffee and toast, to which we did justice. Stowing cargo kept us busy until the next day, when tire vessel ran into dead calms, and the sun beat down with terrific heat.

After three days’ sail we sighted the Laccpcde Islands, but it took two days to make an anchorage. The Lacepede Islands, which consist of four low-lying coral and sand islands, are ]6Jdeg south of the equator and about 100 miles almost directly north of Broome: The largest island of the group is approximately six miles long by half a mile wide, while the highest point of the island is 22ft. The coastal scenery passed cu route was somewhat monotonous owing to the low-lying nature of the country, but the marine life was of interest, whales, diigong. turtles, sea snakes, i..antas, and sail-fish being observed. Tho landing at the Lacepede Islands was very difficult, the breakers being big even when there is no wind. Two members of our party, Messrs Maiden and Stuart, got a ducking when getting ashore.

The Lacepede Islands arc the breeding grounds of tho green-back turtles, and dining the breeding season from October *o Deecmber hundreds of turtles come up every night to lay eggs. Even in the off season a number come up and lay their eggs, and while we were there we secured six turtles one night and a large number of baby turtles and eggs. The female turtle comes up on the beach at night and crawls up above high-water mark whore she digs a bole in tho sand and lays her eggs, covering them up and leaving the beat of tho sun to hatch them out. At the end of a month the young turtles hatch out, and digging their way out of the sand, make instinctively for'the sea. Uu the way down the beach they are attacked by flocks of screaming gulls, which deplete their numbers by fully 50 per cent. Then on entering the sea they are met by the lurking sharks, which consume possibly 50 per cent, of the survivors. Fortunately tho turtle lays a very large number of eggs in a season. While at the Lacepede Islands wo saw the natives riding on the back of a swimming turtle, thus confirming the talcs of do Rougcmcnt, who was branded as a champion liar when he returned to England some 30 or so years ago and told talcs of the marine wonders and of the natives swimming on the backs of turtles, which he had seen in the North-West of Austialia. A thing which is very deplorable is the sight of so many dead turtles lying about on these islands. It appears that the Japanese pearlers visit the islands periodically, cut open the turtles while still alive, and remove the eggs, leaving (he turtles on their hacks to die. The bird life on these islands was very plentiful, and we replenished our larder by shooting snipe, which we saw in thousands. On the western side of the group is a large coral reef on which we waded, and on it wc secured many etrengc and bcauti-

ful shells, including giant conch and bugle shells, and the cowries. We also caught a couple of small hawksbill turtles, while two of the native crew speared a dugong. The dugong is an herbaceous mammal, feed ing on the manattee grass which it finds on the reef. It has a head something like that of a pig, with large tusks and very small eyes. Its skin is rubber-like on the surface, covered with short spiky bristles, and is about an inch thick. The female suckles her young. The specimen we caught at Lacepcde Islands was 10ft 2in Jong and 6ft Cin in girth, while its weight was 8001 b. ' The meat was excellent to eat, and tasted like very fine beef. The oil of the dugong is valuable for medicinal purposes. A preserved specimen of the dugong has been presented to the Auckland Museum. It is the dugong that is supposed to have originated the fallacy of the mermaid.

We caught a number of fish while at the Lacepedo Islands, and also several tiger sharks. The sport provided there was excellent, and it was with the keenest regret that the time did not permit ns to extend our stay there to several weeks instead of davs, as was the case.