| Show TRAVELS LETTER NO on sunday april 1896 we held priesthood meeting at the bellevue house sydney where most ot of the elders were lodging and the newly arrived elders were assigned to their several everal provinces agreeable to the instructions given them at the headquarters of the church elders peterson kirkham and peterson go to new zealand to receive their further appointments from the president of the mission elders orme orine and harvey go to tasmania to fill up the vacancies caused by the returning of elders ellis and pond elder carr goes to victoria to labor as a companion to brother joseph stephenson and brother hamilton proceeds to queensland to assist the three elders already in that field or to fill the gap instanced by y elder bodily having left tor for his home in in zion in the evening we held a public meeting in a rented hall in alexandra where elder pond and myself spoke to an appreciative audience of saints and strangers under the influence of the good spirit which gave utterance to gods servants no less than seventeen elders and one sister from zion were present they formed a suggestive and interesting semicircle semi circle at the head of the hall while the auditorium was well filled with attentive listeners on the following day I 1 rendered the brethren some assistance in their arriage ments lor for transportation and obtained a concession of 20 per cent reduction from the orient steamship company in in the fare of our elders who hereafter may desire to return home by way of europe the presentation of their missionary license signed by the first presidency is all that is necessary in securing the reduction on friday may the steamship warrimoo moo sailed from sydney for vancouver british columbia with thirty two latter day saints on board this included the thirty souls already men tinned as passengers on the anglian from auckland to sydney and in addition to them elder george W lewis and a brother brooksby who is emigrating to zion from the harrow harro w branch in victoria australia in saying goodbye to our brethren and the departing saints those of us who remained behind felt a peculiar ar sensation around the region of the heart and a sort ot of feminine moisture obstructing the usual functions of our visionary organs notwithstanding our best efforts to make it otherwise and as a parting word to our fellow laborers in connection with our heartfelt he arttelt god bless you we requested them to remember us to our friends in the land of the saints Saint sand and that when their eyes should gaze once more upon the majestic heights and snow clad peaks of the mountains of utah to give three cheers in behalf ot of patriotic sons who are laboring as ministers of the gospel in foreign lands after the departure of the company for zion and most of the newly arrived elders for their respective fields of labor elder eider goff and myself turned our special attention to historical labors but as none of the old records were on hand we could accomplish only a very little in this direction I 1 was much more sue suc in gaining information of a general character ot of new south wales and australia and obtained from same colonial officials and others some excellent books and maps to aid in writing something about the condition and re sources ot of the country australia is the largest island in the world if it is proper to class it as an island it is in reality a continent it lies to the southeast ot of asia between the parallels of oc 10 39 11 south latitude and the meridians of 5 and 1530 16 east Iongi longitude tude its greatest length from west to east is about 2400 miles and greatest width between cape york ou on the north and wilsons Wll Wil sons promontory on the south is 1971 miles its coast line is about in length and its extent is computed at square miles or acres some conception of the area ot of australia may be better gathered by comparison it is about twenty six times the size of great britain and ireland fifteen times the size ot france about one sixth smaller than the whole of the united states of america and only about one filth fifth smaller than the continent of europe the northern shores ot of australia are washed by the waters of torres strait which separate it from new guinea the gulf ot aria the sea and the indian ocean it is bounded on the south by bass strait which divides it from tasmania and by the south pacific ocean on the east by the south pacific ocean and on theowest th ewest by the indian ocean A lair fair idea of australia and the location of its several colonies may be gathered by considering it as divided into three parts namely western central and eastern the western part consists entirely ot of western australia the central of south australia and its allied northern territory the eastern of the three colonies of queensland new south wales and victoria western australia occupying the whole of the western portion ot of the continent is surrounded on its northern western and southern side by the sea its eastern boundary being the colony of south australia and the northern territory its capital city is perth to the eastward of west australia and ing from ocean to ocean occupying the whole of the central portion of the continent is the colony of south australia the northern part of which is known as the northern territory adelaide is the capital the principal town of the northern territory is palmerston to the eastward of the northern territory and south australia lies the colony of queensland which embraces the northeastern portion of the australian continent brisbane is the capital of queensland south of queensland ana east of south australia is new south wales the mother colony of australia sydney is the capital occupying the most southerly part of the continent southwest of the new south wales and eastward of south australia is the colony of victoria the metropolis is the city of melbourne australia consists of an immense plateau with a narrow neck of land sometimes intervening between the edge of the elevated area and the sea the east side is the highest averaging about 2000 2000 feet above the ocean the west side is not more than 1000 feet above the same the north is a little higher the south side is either level with the ocean or abuts in cliffs upon the s sea a ranging from to feet in height the general ghar character acter ot of all the seaward side of the table land is precipitous but on 1 the southeast angle of the continent the he tabular form disappears and there is is a true cluster of mountains called the australian alps whose highest elevation is a little over feet the inland portion ot of the table land slopes by a very gradual incline towards a central I 1 depression w abich is south and east of tl the true centre of the continent thus the incline is greater and shorter for the east side of Alist australia ralia and it is on this side alone that there exists what mav anay be sl properly termed a river system the elevation of the west side of australia being only half that of the east or even I 1 less and the distance of the central de 1 being twice as great there is 3 no drainage toward the interior what i ever water falls from the clouds col co I 1 elects in marshes which are generally salt the soil on that side consists generally ai of disintegrated granite rocks and is sterile and dry forming little better than a sandy desert all ail the tableland is more or less interrupted with of mountains which however a are re not noc sufficiently high to give rise to a river system each of the five australian colonies have their own governments loral local laws and fiscal duties they all enjoy what a terms responsible government the lorm form of government is a modification of the british constitution the queen being represented by the governor who is is appointed by the crown the house of lords by the leg lee isla tive council nominated or elected and the house of commons by the legislative assembly elected by th the people the imperial laws are in force unless suter ceded by local enactment and all acts passed by the local legisla tures lures must receive the queens assent prior to their becoming law the climate of australia taken as a whole is healthy and generally very dry and free from malaria it is however subject in summer io to hot winds and ana periodical droughts and in winter to heavy rains the seasons are reverse to those in europe or north america december being midsummer and june midwinter the staple productions of australia are gold silver coppertino cop copper pertin tin and other metals wool and other pas tonal products sugar grain and meat wool is the general and great staple of australia and forms its largest exports from 1887 to 1890 i 1 pounds were exported ot of the value of for the year 1892 the total exports were nearly million pounds valued at for the growth of wool of excellent quality the australian pastures are unrivaled it is no DO wonder that the sheep men of the united states of america cannot suo suc cess fully compete with the australian wool grower without protection at a rough estimate australia has no different kinds of that particular family of animals known as marsupials ot of which the kangaroo and the opossum are the best known varieties others being the combat and native bear there are also twenty four varieties ot of bats one wild dog family called the dingo or thirty species of rat or mice and a numbers number of seals dugongs dugonis and whales which inhabiting the ocean are not re restricted tricked to australia the marsu dial animals which are now extinct in almost every other part of the world are considered by zoologists to be the oldest mammals of the world known fossil remains prove that their predecessors in ages past grew to enormous size rivaling that almost of the rhinoceros it has been estimated that there ate are upwards of different species of birds in in australia the largest being the australian ostrich and the smallest emu or the wren peculiar to the country are am the black swan the honey sucker the lyre bird the bush turkey and others snakes are very numerous and though not of large size are very venomous in character there are upwards of sixty sixt different species about different species of lizards have already been enumerated in the rivers of northern queensland and otner other parts of north australia crocodiles locally called all ali have been found gators miles of railways there are about 15 in operation in australia and about zoo P miles of electric telegraph there is an unbroken railway system penetrating the coast country of queens aard NeW south wales victoria and south I 1 australia and branch lines lead me ing oft in ill all directions some of them penetrating far into the interior there are in the australian colonies about a thousand newspapers including and small class publications ma magazines abines in melbourne and suburbs alone about one hundred and fifty periodicals are published there is no state church in australia australi a though as in eng england land the episcopalians Episcopal ians are t the he dominant body as regards numbers next in point of influence and number come the roman catholics followed by bal baptists congregationalists lutherans Luth erans salvation army and jews saints in the colonies the lew few latter day in classed in t the he colonial year books are am I 1 smaller sectarian bodies other palo aarone ng number her of including inc ludin a large anuw confucians and pagans A good school chool system exists in all the io colonies lonies on december 1893 the population ot australia according to official census was of these new south wales had victoria queensland south IX 1 australia western australia 65 and northern Nori territory belong wj fa K to south australia the aboriginal inhabitants of australia belong to what is termed the which is the lowest family of the human race they are ranked by ethnologists in the papuan or austral nev negro ro swe scale but forming a special type and are aire believed by some to be the remnant of an ancient and peculiar race no satisfactory estimate has been formed otheir number but there are at least 60 ow of them left at the time of the fiad first settlement by whites in australia they numbered about according to the best conjectures these people in their native state have no fixed habitation in the summer time they live almost entirely in the open air air and in the more inclement weather in bark huts oi of the simplest construction their implements clements ats ts are ot of wood stone or the bosses of animals or fish their religious and intellectual condition is is apparently of the lowest kind and it is be liever that they resort to cannibalism under exceptional circumstances they are occasionally employed by the settlers in light kinds of work and as horse breakers but they dislike continuous occupation and soon adon gave it up they are also engaged by the police occasionally in tracking criminals in the bush for which they have great aptitude the physical characteristics ol of the natives have been generally described by a prominent writer as follows the men are tall and well formed having broad foreheads wide mouths small piercing eyes flattened noses thick black hair deep chests their lower limbs being thin and ill developed as compared with those ot of average europeans they are remarkable for the beauty and strength of their teeth the boldness of their carriage and for the comparative smallness ot of their hands and feet although perfectly black they are different in appearance from the natives of africa wanting the wooly hair and the great thickness of lips for which the latter is noted the women are smaller than the men in appearance pe arance worse looking and with frames not so well developed they are very much abused and ill treated by their male peers the natives weapons consist chiefly of spears shields boomerangs wooden axes and caddies or clubs the botany bay natives had bows and arrows in some parts of the country the spears are pointed with flint or stone heads and barbs and the natives in some places use flint knives and stone hatchets or tomahawks on the sea shore canoes made ot of bark are commonly used for fishing the natives of north queensland are fierce and bloodthirsty and in the neighborhood ot of the palmer river and hodgekinson diggings and further north have sacrificed many lives particularly of the chinese in physique they far surpass the aborigines ot of the south though in intelligence there is little to choose between them the australian blacks occupying probably the lowest position of the human family the original inhabitants of new zealand are a dif different lerent class of beings altogether they are intelligent apt to learn and imitate and have great natural powers of perception since my arrival in australia I 1 have seen only one native and he was sitting with crossed legs on the at sydney busily engaged at some handiwork peculiar to nis his race most of the natives live far in the interior of the country and only a few reside near the thickly populated cities or towns the precise period of the discovery of australia is doubtful old french manuscript charts bearing dates 1531 and 1542 have marked on them an extensive country to the southward of the und under er the name of jave la grande great java which agrees nearer with the position and extent of terra australia than with any other land but the dutch are credited with making known what had been kept secret b bv the spanish and probably for commercial purposes the dutch visited the north coast of australia in 1616 other explorations followed and in 1622 the southwestern extremity of the continent was discovered by the captain of a dutch ship and by him named cape leeuwen lioness after his vessel the south coast was soon afterwards explored in 1664 the continent was named new holland by the dutch government in 1770 captain |
