GLIMPSES OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 17 August 1893, Page 35

GLIMPSES OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Br Charles E. Watkins, 0.8.M.8.

MINERAL BESOUBOES. It may not be generally known that gold was discovered in Western Australia more than a century ago (about lfflO). This information is furnished in a pamphlet in the British Museum. The pamphlet is on behalf of a certain Manvel. ' Ha is therein pointed out as a man who Bhould.be sent delay to explore this terror incognita, which terra incognita is, from unmistakable evidence, none other than Western Australia— i.c , the portion of Western Australia where the Klmberley goldfields are situated. For this information I am indebted to Mr Albert F. Oalvert's interesting bookie*, entitled "Western Australia »nd its Goldfields. Mr Calvert goes on to add :— " Where I have myßelf seen only last year, dnriDg my explorations, indications of goldbeyond the dream of avarice." Whether Mr Manvel's valuable services were or were not secured' for this interesting expedition .history leaves no record, nor so far as we know was gold found to any appreciable extent until the year 1887, the amount for that year being 48730z. In 1888 the quantity had decreased to 34930z ; but from that time the yield has gone on increasing till in 1891 (the latest returns at my command for the moment) it reached the respectable total of 30,3H0z. Nor is Western Australia barren of other mineral products. Lead and copper, coal, iron, and tin, as well as silver, antimony, and mica, have, at different times and places, been discovered. Here, as elsewhere, the cry is " more capital." Unfortunately with the disorganised finances all over Australia English capital is unlikely to flow in very freely for many a long day; and such help as can be given locally Is barely enough to discover the existenge of the minerals mentioned, development beh^g out of the question. In and surrounding the tfcwnahip or Southern Cross the country has been fairly prospected, and a great deal of useful work done. One of the principal mines in the district is known as Eraser's South Gold Mining Company. They have a 20 head battery and horizontal winding engine, worked with steam from the main boilers. The yield so far has been 56200z o£ gold from 5318 tons of quartz. To the north o£ "Fraser'a South" is Fraser's, so called from the faot that a certain pioneer in goldfield matters named Fraser was its discoverer. It has the distinction of being the first mine opened-in the locality. It has another distinction of a more gruesome description, as being the mine with which Deeming waß connected during his sojourn in Western Australia. "Permit me," said Mr Weir, the mine manager, " to introduce you to the home of the notorious Deeming, alias Baron Swanßton," &c. The cottage is not at all suggestive of diabolic designs, being exceedingly cool and comfortable with its cement flooring! and verandah, though cement has a sinister meaning when mentioned as the handiwork of Deeming. , . PABKEB'S BANGE. Two miles south o£ the Cross is Parker's Range. Here are five distinct lines of reef, and a number of mines have been opened up. Miners conversant with the district informed me that to the east of Parker's Range there was a vast tract of quartz country, from which many loose specimens had been brought in. The reefs were large, and traversed the country for miles. The specimens brought" in gave them every encouragement to prospect yet farther. The country about here is, inde ed, full of reefs. The ironstone rock rises into a range of hills about 200 ft high and extending for miles. One man told me that the. ironstone on analysis proved so rich that he was sure it would "beat Mount Morgan hollow." Another declared the result was " too good to believe." I strongly advised him " not to.tell me, as my capacity for belief was limited. 1 ' In strange contrast to these dreams of fabulous wealth to be drawn from their hidden,, sources are the numerous camps of nativese rstwhile owners of it, all squatted here and there among the surrounding forests. Strange creatures, grotesque as their- own gnarled and twisted gimblet trees, or their fellow denizens of the bush -the Kangaroo—begging and stealing from their supplanters, and taking no more thought for the morrow than the gaudy wild flowers through which they wander. HOPE'S HILL. - r Another mine which deserves a passing notice is Hope's Hill, about five miles to the north of Southern Cross. ■ The management have shown themselves moßt.enterprisicg as regards the development of the mine. They possess a battery having 30 head of stamps, which is worked with a large horizontal steam engine with two boilers. Their arrangements for storage of water, too, deserves commendation. * The * yield' of gold has not been sensational, but* it has been payable, and hope 3 are entertained of fat dividends in the near future. It is worthy of remark that a quantity of expert evidence taken all went against the presumption that gold would be found in any-quantity, and the faith of the promoters i?, therefore, . th c more remarkable. Besides the Yilgaru there are the Kitnberley goldfields in the north-eas^ at the head of the Ord and Fitzroy rivers. The stone crushed up to the end of 1891* was 5519 tons, yielding 62100z Bdmt lO^roE gold. The Pilbarra goldfield is situate^ wifch the Fortescue river on the south and the De Gray river on the north and east. Both quartz and alluvial, gold have been discovered in this region, as also precious stoned';, but the field has not been sufficiently prospected to speak with any degree of certainty as to ultimate results. Mallina, Pilbarra (on the Yule river), Nullagine, and Coongan are smaller fields, where, however, good gold 'has been discovered. The last-named ,field is rendered famous by the discovery of "The Little Hero Nugget," weighirg 3330z Bdwt. A CONTRAST. >v The difference between -gold bearing ' country in Western Australia and New Zealand is very marked. I speak particularly of

the Yilgata fields. The reefs are, generally speaking, large, and extend to a great leDgth on the surface, bat they are not well defined, one wall usually splitting up into a number of leaders rich in gold. The rocks are indurated slates and schists, with dykeß of granite and other intrusive rocks. The stone composing the reef is solid, and of a quart zite nature. It contains iron and copper pyrites, manganese, and chlorite, as also carbonate of iron in minute quantities. The stone is often very rich, containing as much as 6oz to the ton, while the crushings from several mines yield 2oz to the ton. LAND. The question of questions in every country,? and that of the greatest importance to its inhabitants, is the extent and quality of its soil ; or, in other words, what proportion of human and animal life will its area suppot. The discovery of gold doubtless draws attention to a country, and the gold fever brings restless, eager crowds to its shores ; but the ultimate test by which that country must stand or fall is its land. Is its productive capacity equal to sustaining the inflowing population 1 If it be the future of the country is to a very great extent assured ; if it be not, the influx of population must be more or lees unless, as in the case of the mother country, staple industries Buc'a as manufactures, shipbuilding, &«., afford employment for its inhabitants, and enable them to exchange their artificial productions for the surplus natural productions of their neighbours. In a new country such industries are of course out of the question for the time being, and the quality and extent of its soil is therefore of paramount 'importance. In none of the great earth divisions has Nature shown such parsimony as regards that absolute necessity for both plant and animal life — viz , water, as in the Australian continent. Her rivers, in proportion to her great extent of country, are remarkably few, and none of them can compare in point of size with those of her sister continents; while her vast, unknown interior is believed to be— so far as the surface is concerned— a desert, in comparison with which the Sahara or Gobi sink into utter insignificance. I say " so far as the surface is concerned," for there is a growing conviction, fostered by the belief of such heroes in Australian exploration as Ernest Favenc, that the interior of Australia is a subterranean fresh water sea. Should this dream prove true, the greatest stumbling blcck, both to the agriculturibt and the pastoralist, will be removed, and the question will then be how best to utilise this hidden source of fertilisation. In Queensland artesian wells have •wholly altered the face of large tracts of country, and increased the productive capacity manifold; and irrigation has been resorted to (to a limited extent) both in Victoria and New South Wales.

"In Western Australia," says the Hon. Alfred DeakiD, in his paper on " Irrigation in Australia," "water is readily struck at shallow depths. The area wholly dependent on wells in India embraces millions of acres ; but the water, in most cases, is baled out of shallow holes, as in the Nile delta, by means of the Egyptian water lifter, worked by band, or by the weight of two or three natives walking backwards and forwards along a balanced pole, and thus raising the leather bucketful, to be tilted into a little channel, along which it flows to the field." Irrigation in one form or another is as old, as the history of agriculture itself, but its greatest modern tiiumph has been achieved in America, In California the results have been simply astonishing. I quote once more from Mr Deakin :— " The irrigated orchards give profits in peaches and apricots of £20 per acre, grapes £30, raisins £40, and oranges £50 to £60 per acre. Wheat lands which sold at £5 to £8 per acre, when irrigated fetch from £12 to £30." Now it is conceded on all hands that the soil and climate of Western Australia are admirably adapted for frnitgrowing purposes ; and if such results can be obtained in California by moans of irrigation, why not in Western Australia? A writer in the Inquirer and Commercial News (a paper printed in Perth) cays:—" An orangery should be brought into bearing at a cost of about £50 per acre, and, when in bearing, is reckoned to yield £120 to £150 pßr acre per annum. In good seasons a net return of £300 per acre has been obtained, while £200 per acre has not infrequently been obtained on 'one or two orangeries in this colony." From the foregoing it must not be inferred that I wish to convey the idea that Western Australia is dependent ,for her productiveness on what may in future be done for her by means of irrigation, nor yet that fruit is all she is capable of producing. I merely wish to convey the fact that her productions may be immensely increased by this mean?, and the disastrous years of drought which every now and again cause such severe losses may be obviated. Western Australia should be well adapted for every species of agriculture, from those of the temperate zone in the south to those of the tropical and semi-tropical in the centre and north. GENEBAL EEMABKS. We are all apt to think that life away from our particular spot of earth must be a very different matter indeed from the life we are accustomed to. We are inclined to wonder how people can live at all away from our favoured conditions of existence, and harbour a sneaking conviction that we only are the Lord's chosen people. But after all, life is vei-y much the same wherever it is lived. Here in Western Australia, as in our beloved New Zealand, there are many things estimable and many things despicable. There are true patriots who have, from the earliest days of the colony, striven for her weal, even again3t their own personal advantage. There are others to whom the colony was and is but a chessboard, where men and things must move simply for their own advantage, if it be possible so to move them.

We have our newspapers — some very creditable ones— with their opposing interests and their opposing politics. Our law courts are occupied with cases, which are but echoes of like cases heard all the world over. Onr doctors squabble-and disagree as doctors have done from time immemorial ; and the patient settles the dispute in the usual way by obligingly rernoviDg himself from the scene. Oar farmers complain of bad crops and low prices, entirely forgetting the good crops and good prices, which also is not a thing unheard of in other parts of.

the world. Meanwhile the old world goes round as usual— the sun, the moon, aud the stars shine unconcernedly down on us, and together we fulfil the deßtiny assigned for us, and of which we know so little.