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Show ;B Commonwealth Parliament House, Melbourne. I red by the national Geographic Society, So-ciety, Wulitncton, D. ;.) summer conference of tho proof pro-of British dominions, Including cinlcr of Austral In, nnd tho gen-undcrstiindltig gen-undcrstiindltig tlint Australia Is jso sympathy with tho United i In tho mutter of oriental Im-tlon, Im-tlon, mnkos Unit fnr-awiiy com-enlth com-enlth of moro thnn ordlnnry Into In-to Americans Just now. trnlla Is tho most Isolated of nil Ited continents nnd Is remoto tho center of nil of tho world's lies. Northward tho sailing dls-to dls-to Japan Is approximately 8,000 1 miles; to Indlii, 2,500 miles. Amorlcn Is 7,000 miles to the enst; ifrlcn nn equal dlstnnco west, in London to the cnpltnl of Aus-shlps Aus-shlps hy tho Suez route trnvcrso xlmately 11,000 miles of water y tho Panama canal, 12,731 miles. California ports tho routes vln i, or FIJI, or Tahiti cover a quar-tho quar-tho clrcumforenco of tho enrtli. ilia's only largo civilized neigh-ithln neigh-ithln a radius of 1,000 miles Is Few Americans Go There, continent, lying thus fnr out-he out-he ordinary routes of travel, Is visited by Americans. For most knouiedgo of this fascinating Is obtained by a study of a few In tho bnck of school goog-;s goog-;s pages descriptive of "Aus-and "Aus-and Now Zealand" nnd nccom-1 nccom-1 by n map of "Australia and ilnnds of tho I'nelflc" on n scale null for tho recognition of signlf-features, signlf-features, i of Uie first surprises nvvnltlng jurist from tho northern licnil-Us licnil-Us to find that Australia and Zealand mny not bo grouped as iluVids of llko appearance, differ-liiliily differ-liiliily In size; near neighbors may bo treated as a unit. New id Is nearly twice as fur from ilia ns Bermuda Is from New and Is not only east but also southern coast of tho Aus-i Aus-i mainland has tho Iatltudo of il Now Jersey, whllo tho south-st south-st of tho thrco Islands which iso tho Dominion of Now Kca-ccuples Kca-ccuples tho position of southern lundlund. rpic vegetation of remarkable y and beauty, animal life of by-geological by-geological periods, and tin nb-nl nb-nl population, tho lowest In tho of beings hnvlng human form, out ns fenturcs distinctly Aus-i Aus-i a nover-cndlng source of Into In-to tho geographer, trnlla Is a largo country. It Is fourteen times tho slzo of o or Gormnny, twenty-flvo times to of Italy, or Ecuador, nnd two one-half times tho slzo of Ar-a, Ar-a, Its chlof competitor In tho irn hemisphere. Its area Is cqunl ee-fourths of Europe, ono-tliird NorUi America, or ono-fourtli British Empire Tho continent lost exactly tho slzo and Is near-shapo near-shapo of tho United States. In Surface, Low In Elevation, trnlla Is tho most level In sup i ml regular In outllno of nit tho cuts, nnd oven of most largo Is-It Is-It Is nlso the lowest continent, in nvcrago elevation nbout that ilo. Its surfaco lacks variety, hango from ono typo of toirag-is toirag-is so gradual, and slgnltlcant il fenturcs aro so few and so spaced that, with tho excep-f excep-f tho Murray river, they aro not l In marking tho boundaries of traveler In search of duplicates Canadian ltocklos, tho Yosem-id Yosem-id tho Grand canyon, of Nor-ii Nor-ii fjords nndAlplnoscenory, need ,-lslt Australia. Its raountuln y Is that of tho southern Ap-ilans, Ap-ilans, tho Whtto mountains, and w ranges of Arizona, Its plains plateaus aro comparable with of tho Ilocky Mountain foothills lie arid expanses of Utah, Idaho )regon. lough tho moutnlns aro low com- ti jr F w,,h thoso of ot,ier continents, 1 jMfif """'"Co Is great, for nowhere I Mltflelr control of rainfall and con- s- Ik 2SSH.ftDt distribution of vegetation and jaltrt Jjteople better exemplICed, A bird's- -" mSS T,ow ot Austral,a shows n belt of (HfiftctaUon extending along Its north, cast and southeast edges, with n patch on tho extremo southwest corner and another covering most of tho Island of Tasmania. In these regions tho peoplo live. Tho trade winds abundantly supply tho northeast coast, but carry llttlo water beyond; the westerlies, tho "ronrlng forties" of tho sailor, deposit their moisture on tho lands nlong Ilnss strait nnd on tho southwest tip of tho continent, but have llttlo or nono to carry Inland. The. north coast Is alternately al-ternately drenched nnd dried wlUi the coming and going of monsoons. Tho center of tho continent Is thcrcforo arid, largo parts oro desert, and tho numerous largo lakes shown on Uio map are expanses of salt mud covered with water by Infrequent rains. Australia's Aus-tralia's streams nro fewer and carry less water than Uioso of any other continent. Its Forests Are Surprising. Tho flora of Australia Is not only beautiful, It Is unique, having - no counterpart In other lands. Of tho 10,000 species of plants most of them ro purely Australian, and aro unknown un-known oven In Now Zealand. Tho gen-oral gen-oral Impression ono gets ot Australian forests Is their total unllkcncss to anything any-thing seen elsewhere. Forms which may bo recognized ns tulip, Illy, honeysuckle honey-suckle nnd fern tnko on n surprising aspect. They nro not garden flowers, but trees, nnd the landscape of which they form a part reminds one of tho hypothetical representations In books of a Inndsrapo of Mesozolc time, a period pe-riod antedating our own by millions of years. Tho Impression that ono Is looking at a landscapo which has forever disappeared dis-appeared from other parts of tho world Is so vivid that the elms and maples and oaks In some of tho city streets strlko a Jarring note. The transition from Jurassic to modern times Is painfully abrupt. Tho animals of Australia, too, aro so distinct from tho rest of tho world that somo have proposed two great zoological realms: Australian and non-Australian, non-Australian, Tho peculiarity lies not only In tho fact that Australian types aro not found elsewhere, but also that families llko tho cats nnd tho pigs, which are found natlvo on all other continents and on many Islands, aro absent from Australia. Tho kangaroo Is Australia's national animal, and the group to which It belongs, tho marsupials, mar-supials, Is typically Australian. A belt of country 100 miles wldo along tho east, Bouth and southwest edges of Australia would Includo probably prob-ably 80 per cent of Uio commonwealth's population. Thcro aro no Inland cities ot over 10,000 population, except six mining camps, and tho most remote of theso Is nbout as far from tho sea as Is Pittsburgh. A striking feature of tho Australian census Is tho concentration of population popula-tion In cities a phenomenal situation for an agricultural and pastoral nation na-tion with less than 1 per cent of lta area under cultivation and 47 per cent unoccupied. The six Australian state capitals Includo 88.80 per cent of the commonwealth's population, and Ave of them are growing nt tho expenso of tho back country. No other nation, and few stutes, can match theso figures. fig-ures. A "white Australia". Is tho settled policy of tho commonwealth government, govern-ment, tho Immigration laws being so administered as effectually to exclude colored races. Legislation Is directed particularly to tho exclusion of Chinese, Japanese and Polynesian labor, la-bor, not only from tho land, but from employment In pearl Ashing, coustwlso shipping, and on overseas steamers holding mall contracts. |