# The New International Encyclopædia/Queensland

Edition of 1905. See also Queensland on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​QUEENS'LAND. A State of Australia, occupying the northeastern part of the continent. It is bounded on the north by the Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by New South Wales, and on the west by South Australia (Map: Australia, G 3). Its extreme length from north to south is 1260 miles, its extreme breadth 940 miles, and its area is estimated at 668,497 square miles, or nearly one-fifth of the area of the United States.
Queensland has a coastline of 2230 miles. Its eastern coast, from Point Danger to Cape York, the northern extremity of York Peninsula, is indented with numerous small bays, affording several good harbors, such as Moreton Bay, the harbor of Brisbane. This coast is lined, at a distance away of 20 to 150 miles, by an immense coral reef called the Great Barrier Reef, which is about 1000 miles long and incloses a broad sheet of quiet water filled with numerous islands. The Great Dividing Range, which runs along the entire eastern coast of the continent, here recedes farther from the sea than in the two southern States. But it sends out a number of spurs, and divides into parallel coast ranges, so that the whole eastern part of the State for 300 miles from the coast is rugged and mountainous, the ranges having an average elevation of 2000 to 3000 feet, with a maximum height of 5400 feet. The western half is an undulating plain traversed in its north central part by a western spur of the Great Divide. There are four principal drainage systems: first, the rivers flowing eastward to the Pacific Ocean, which, though short, are navigable tidal streams for considerable distances; second, those flowing through the plain southward to the Darling; third, those flowing north to the Gulf of Carpentaria; and fourth, those flowing westward and losing themselves in the great central plains of the continent. Queensland is better watered than any of the other States.
Though lying to a great extent within the tropics, Queensland enjoys a comparatively equable climate. The mean annual temperature in the southeastern part is 69°, and even in the arid western plains the temperature seldom rises above 95°. The rainfall is very unevenly distributed. On the east coast it ranges from 50 inches at Brisbane to 100 and even 150 inches farther north. It decreases very rapidly toward the interior, being generally less than 20 inches west of the mountains, and falling to 6 inches in the extreme west. The rainfall throughout the State is very uncertain.
The great western plains have a rich black soil, but are generally treeless, though covered with grass and shrubs. The valleys along the coast are filled with thick deposits of alluvial soil of great fertility, and here we find a luxuriant tropical forest growth. Though the predominating species are Australian types. such as Eucalyptus and Acacia, the flora of Queens- land differs from that of the other States in having a large admixture of Indian. Malayan, and Polynesian types, notably among the cycads and palms. Here grow the screw-pines (Pandanus) and the Araucarias, while the coasts and tidal streams are lined with mangrove thickets. The fauna, on the other hand, is typically Australian.
​The great western plains are Cretaceous, partly consisting of the series known as Desert sandstone. It incloses a large area of metamorphic rocks in the northwest, and disappears under the Tertiary strata fringing the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The eastern mountain belt consists very largely of granites and igneous rocks, with extensive volcanic areas of more or less recent origin. The granite ranges are flanked by large areas of Paleozoic rocks, chiefly Devonian and Carboniferous. There are extensive coal beds in the State, both in the Carboniferous and in the Cretaceous strata of the west. Auriferous quartz veins are also scattered through the mountain region, and lodes of silver, copper, mercury, bismuth, antimony, tin, and cobalt are also found.
The mineral resources, especially its gold, have contributed much to the development of Queensland. The total gold production to the end of 1900 was £50.200,783. Since 1889 the annual output has not fallen below two million pounds in value. The highest figure reached, £2,871,700, was in 1900. The output of tin, formerly an important source of income, has been much reduced during recent years. the value having been estimated at £74.041 in 1900. The value of the copper output fluctuates greatly. In 1900 it was £23,040. The value of silver lead in the same year was £12,712, which was several times less than was common a decade earlier. The value of the coal output increased steadily from £24,573 in 1880 to £157,071 in 1890, and after a subsequent decrease, stood in 1900 at £173,705.
General agricultural interests are not yet extensively developed. The vast region west of the mountains is too arid to admit of successful farming. Along the coast, however, the rainfall and the soil favor the growth of a very great variety of products both temperate and tropical. The area under crops increased from 242,029 acres in 1891 to 457,397 in 1900-01, not including grass and fallow lands. The most extensively grown crop in the latter year was corn, to which 127,974 acres were devoted. Wheat is grown in the southeast, there being, in 1900-01, 42,497 acres. In the same year there were 42,497 acres in hay. 11,000 acres in Irish potatoes, and 3584 in sweet potatoes. By far the most important crop is sugar-cane, the area devoted to which increased from 50,022 acres in 1890 to 108,535 in 1900-01. The rich lands at the mouths of the numerous streams are well adapted to sugar culture. Formerly the plantation system prevailed, the labor being done by Kanakas brought into the country for this work. There has been much objection to the introduction of colored labor, and under Government aid a system is developing which it is thought will dispense with the necessity for such immigration. The Government aids a combination of small farmers to erect mills which are operated i upon the cooperative plan. A great variety of fruits are successfully grown. In 1900 there were 2019 acres in grapevines. Bananas, pineapples, and oranges are extensively produced along the coast.
Queensland is still largely a pastoral country. Much of the region west of the mountains is adaptable to pastoral industries, though too dry for farming, and the sheep are mainly found in that part. The number of sheep increased from 6,935,967 in 1800 to 21,708,310 in 1892, but decreased since that year to 10,339,185 in 1900. This decrease was attributed to drought. In many places the drought of late has been effectually guarded against by the boring of Artesian wells, and occasionally by damming streams and other means. Queensland has more than twice as many cattle as any other Australian State. The number increased from 3,102,752 in 1880 to 7,012,997 in 1894, since which time it has decreased to 4,078.191 in 1900. The introduction of improved methods of caring for meat—freezing, preserving, etc.—makes possible larger shipments of meat products, and increases the profit accruing in stock-raising. Dairy farming is beginning to receive much attention, and many cooperative creameries have been established in the southern part of the country. In 1900 there were 450,788 horses and 122,187 hogs in the State.
Queensland has a variety of industries such as the manufacture of Hour, sugar, butter and cheese, brewing and distilling, meat-packing, tanning, and the sawing of lumber. In 1899, 28,883 hands were employed in the various branches of manufacturing.
In the external trade the imports increased from £5,000.700 in 1890 to £7,184,112 in 1900, but decreased in the following year. The exports gained from £8.554,512 in 1890 to £11,942,858 in 1899, but declined in the two subsequent years. The most valuable items of export are gold, wool, frozen meat, sugar, hides and skins, preserved and salted meats, and tallow. The largest imports are textiles and clothing, metal and metal goods.
In December, 1901, there were 2801 miles of railroads, mostly in the hands of the Government. Up to that time the Government had expended £20,130,023 in the construction of them. Three lines—one in the south, one in the centre, and one farther north—extend westward into the interior, but there is no connecting line between these. The postal service and the telegraph lines are in the hands of the Government.
The Governor is appointed by the British Crown. He has an Executive Council of 9 members, 8 of whom hold portfolios. There is a Parliament of two Houses—the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. The members of the former are nominated by the Crown for life, and in 1902 numbered 39. The 72 members of the popular House are elected for three years. There is universal male suffrage. After a residence of months certain classes of property-holders are allowed to vote in any district in which their property is located. Queensland sends 9 members to the Australian House of Representatives.
The population increased from 28,056 in 1860 to 391,080 in 1890, and 503,266 in 1901. In the latter year there were 280,092 males and 223,174 females. The excess of immigration over emigration has become very small in recent years. The white inhabitants are mainly from the United Kingdom. The aborigines number 3862 males and 2808 females, not including those who live in camps. The population is confined largely to the coast region, and is most numerous in the south. Brisbane is the capital. In 1901 there were 185,023 adherents of the Church of England; 120,663, of the Church of Rome; 57,615 Presbyterians; 29.791 Wesleyans; 25,505 Lutherans. The Mohammedans and Pagans numbered 19,124. There is no State Church. Education is compulsory between the ages of six and twelve years, but in some parts it is not enforced. Primary education is free and unsectarian. In 1901 it was estimated that 98 per cent, of the adult white population could read and write. The expenditure of the State for education in 1901 was £299,866.
With the early history of Queensland are associated the Spaniard Torres, whose name is perpetuated in the strait separating that land from New Guinea, and that of the explorer Cook, who, in 1770, coasted from Moreton Bay to Torres Strait and made a chart of the coast. The explorations of Lieutenant Flinders, in 1799, opened the way for the .settlement of the Moreton Bay district, but his work seems to have been neglected, until Queensland was practically rediscovered by Oxley in 1823. In 1826 a penal settlement w-as established on Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River, but the convicts were soon removed and subsequent attempts to introduce a criminal population into the country failed before the strong opposition of the free inhabitants. The country was admirably adapted for grazing and drew a large immigration from the southern settlements, the population, in May, 1859, when Queensland was set off as a separate colony, being about 25,000. mostly squatters. Brisbane and Ipswich were the only towns of importance. A severe financial panic in 1866 was followed by the discovery of gold in the years 1867-72. the mining interests henceforth playing a prominent part in the shaping of public policy. The importation of coolies for work on the sugar plantations led to many conflicts in Parliament. The importation of Kanaka labor was forbidden in 1890, but was resumed two years later, owing to the alarming condition into which the sugar industry had fallen. The Labor Party exercised an important influence on affairs after 1890, though its power was not as fully developed as in the more southern colonies. In the winter of 1899 Queensland ratified the Constitution for the new Australian Commonwealth. See Australian Federation.
Bibliography. Daintree, Queensland: Its Territory, Climate, and Prospects (London, 1872); Dalrymple, Narrative and Reports of the Queensland Northeast Coast Expedition (Brisbane, 1874); Grant, Bush Life in Queensland (London, 1882); Bonwick, Resources of Queensland (ib., 1880); id.. Queensland: Its Resources and Institutions (ib., 1887); Bicknell, Travel and Adventure in Northern Queensland (ib., 1895); Weedon, Queensland Past and Present (Brisbane, 1890-98); Roth, Ethnological Studies Among the Northwest Central Queensland Aborigines, contains bibliography (ib., 1897); Jack and Etheridge, The Geology and Paleontology of Queensland and New Guinea (ib., 1892); Year Book of Queensland (ib., annually).