# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Queensland

See also Queensland on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​QUEENSLAND, a state of the Australian commonwealth occupying the whole of the north-eastern portion of the Australian continent, and comprising also the islands in Torres Strait. (For map, see Australia.) It lies between 10° and 29° S., and is bounded on the N. by Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the W. by South Australia and the Northern Territory, on the S. by New South Wales and on the E. by the Pacific Ocean. It has an area of 668,497 sq. m., a coastline of 3000, is 1250 m. long and 950 m. wide at its widest part.
With so extensive a seaboard Queensland is well favoured with ports on the Pacific side. Moreton Bay receives the Brisbane river, on whose banks Brisbane, the capital, stands. Maryborough port is on the Mary, which flows into Wide Bay; Bundaberg, on the Burnett; Gladstone, on Port Curtis; Rockhampton, up the Fitzroy (Keppel Bay); Mackay, on the Pioneer; Bowen, on Port Denison; Townsville, on Cleveland Bay. Cairns and Port Douglas are near Trinity Bay; Cardwell is on Rockingham Bay; Cooktown, on the Endeavour; Thursday Island port, near Cape York; and Normanton and Burketown near the Gulf of Carpentaria. The quiet Inner Passage, between the shore of the Great Barrier Reef, 1200 m. long, favours the north-eastern Queensland ports. Brisbane was founded in 1826, but colonization was restricted until 1842, when the Moreton Bay district of New South Wales was thrown open to settlers. It was named “Queensland” on its separation from the mother colony in 1859. A broad plateau, from 2000 to 5000 ft. in height, extends from north to south, at from 20 to 100 m. from the coast, forming the Main Range. The Coast Range is less elevated. A plateau goes westward from the Great Dividing Range, throwing most of its waters northward to the gulf. The Main Range sends numerous but short streams to the Pacific, and a few long ones south-westward, lost in earth or shallow lakes, unless feeding the river Darling. Going northward, the leading rivers, in order, are the Logan, Brisbane, Mary, Burnett, Fitzroy, Burdekin, Herbert, Johnstone and Endeavour. The Fitzroy receives the Mackenzie and Dawson; the Burdekin is supplied by the Cape, Belyando and Suttor. The chief gulf streams are the Mitchell, Flinders, Leichhardt and Albert. The great dry western plains have the Barcoo, Diamantina, Georgina, Warrego, Maranoa and Condamine. (T. A. C.)
Geology.—Queensland consists geologically of three areas. The eastern division of the state, including all the Cape York Peninsula and the mountainous areas behind the coast, is occupied by the Queensland Highlands, which are built up of a foundation of Archean and contorted Lower Palaeozoic rocks, upon which rest some sheets of comparatively horizontal Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks. The rocks of the Highlands sink to the west below the Western Plains, which consist in the main of a sheet of Cretaceous clays, capped by isolated ridges and peaks of Desert Sandstone. In the far west the plains end against the foot of an Archean tableland, which is the north-eastern projection of the Western Plateau of Australia.
The oldest rocks in Queensland are gneisses and schists, which appear to underlie the whole of the state. They were originally regarded as metamorphosed Silurian rocks, which had been converted into gneiss, mica-schists and hornblende-schists. Their Silurian age was affirmed owing to their lithological resemblance to rocks in Victoria, which were then regarded as Silurian, but have since been shown to be Archean. The gneisses and schists occupy the Barklay Tableland, the Cloncurry Goldfield and the rocks of the Mackinlay district in the west of the state. The second chief Archean area is around Charters Towers and the Cape Goldlieid; it includes quartzites, conglomerates and slates, striking from north-west to south-east. The third Archean area occupies the Gilbert, Woolgar and Etheridge Goldfields, and is composed of schists trending from west to east, and with dikes of diorite and quartz-porphyry. Smaller Archean outcrops occur south of Bowen in the Clarke Range and on the Peak Downs. To the Archean series doubtless belong some of the many granitic massifs, including those of Charters Towers, Ravenswood and Croydon; but some of the granitic rocks are of Lower Carboniferous age, and some are apparently Mesozoic.
The Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks are widely distributed, but owing to the rarity of fossils they are not well known. In the south-west of Queensland there are some Ordovician rocks, the eastern continuation of those in the Macdonnell Ranges. Silurian limestones occur in the mining field of' Chillagoe and at Mount Wyatt. The Upper Palaeozoic systems are well developed, even when many of the schists, which have been included in the Devonian, are eliminated. The Middle Devonian is represented by the Burdekin limestones, which contain a rich fossil fauna corresponding to the Buchan and Bindi limestones of Victoria. The Middle Devonian limestones occur on the Marble and Hunter Islands in the Northumberland Archipelago. The Devonian rocks in the Pentland and Gilbert district are estimated by lack to be over 20,000 ft. in thickness; but they probably include some Lower Palaeozoic beds.
The Queensland Carboniferous system is divided into five series—the Gympie, Star and the three divisions of the Bowen beds. The lowest series is the Gympie, which occurs between Brisbane and Maryborough. It consists of shales and sandstones, and is traversed by dikes of diorite, which often contain pyrites and gold. The age of these gold-bearing rocks is proved by the presence of such fossils as Productus cora and Protoretepora ampla. The Gympie series is well developed in the districts of Burnett, Broad Sound Bay and Wide Bay, along the coast from Port Curtis to the south of Cape Palmerston. The Gympie beds are greatly contorted; and those of the Star series are regarded as younger, because they are less disturbed. They are best known in the basins of the Great and Little Star rivers, tributaries of the Upper Burdekin. They are best developed on the Belyando river and in the Drummond Range, where the shales and sandstones yield abundant fossil fish; on the Star river the shales contain Lepidodendron. The Bowen beds are divided into three series which represent the upper part of the Carboniferous. The Lower Bowen series consists of agglomerates and altered rocks exposed in the Toussaint Range; farther south, the Lower Bowen beds consist of grits, sandstones and shales, which have been altered by some granitic intrusions. The Middle Bowen series contains beds with Productus cora and Glossopteris. The Upper Bowen beds contain coal seams, abundant remains of Glossopteris and one marine band. They form the centre of the basin of the Bowen coalfield; while the Middle Bowen beds outcrop in a band around it. The Upper Bowen beds occur also at Townsville and Cooktown in Northern Queensland.
The rocks of the Mesozoic group may be divided into two divisions, of which the lower includes terrestrial deposits containing coal seams; the upper is mainly a marine formation, but it terminates with a further development of terrestrial deposits. The Lower Mesozoic division includes the Burrum and Ipswich series. The Burrum series occurs along the eastern coast from Laguna Bay, through Wide Bay and Maryborough, to Blackwater Creek; and it extends inland for about 30 m., where it is faulted against the Gympie beds. The western edge of the Burrum beds are described as highly altered in places, by contact with granites. The Ipswich series occupies 12,000 sq. m. in the south-eastern corner of Queensland, and is the northern continuation of the Upper Clarence series of New South Wales. It contains coal seams which have been worked, though the coal is of inferior value to that of the Carboniferous of New South Wales. One seam, on Stewarts Creek, near Rockhampton, is 26 ft. thick. Interbedded basalts occur in the Ipswich beds, forming the scarp of the Toowoomba Range. The Burrum and Ipswich beds have been included in the Trias and the Jurassic, or in both systems as the Trias-Jura, but according to A. C. Seward their characteristic fossil, Taeniopteris daintreei, is of Lower Oolitic age.
The Cretaceous system is represented by a lower group of marine clays forming the Rolling Downs formation. They are said to rest conformably upon the Ipswich beds, and some of the fossils found in these beds were first described as Upper Oolitic. The affinities of the fauna are in part with Lower Cretaceous and in part with the Cenomanian; so both these series may be represented. The Rolling Downs formation consists in the main of clays, forming the ​impermeable cover over the subterranean stores of water, which maintain the flowing wells of central Australia. The Rolling Downs formation underlies the whole of the Western Plains of Queensland, from the foot of the Queensland Highlands, westward to the Barklay Tableland; and it extends from the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north, across the state into South Australia and New South Wales. The Desert Sandstone overlies the Rolling Downs formation. Its age is shown to be Upper Cretaceous by some marine fossils from Ma borough and Croydon, which are said to be from rocks interbedltfed in it. In the interior, the Desert Sandstone is entirely of terrestrial and lacustrine origin, and the only fossils are obscure plant remains and the silicified trunks of trees. Glossopteris has been collected on Betts Creek from a rock identified as Desert Sandstone, which is said to overlie the Rolling Downs formation; but there is probably some mistake in the stratigraphy, as Glossopterfis is only found in Coal Measures which are clearly of Palaeozoic age. If it had survived into the Cretaceous, some specimens of it would doubtless have been obtained from the coal seams of the Lower Mesozoic. The Desert Sandstone once covered nearly three quarters of Queensland, having a wider range than the Rolling Downs formation. It was formed partly on land, partly in freshwater lakes and partly in arms'of the sea, as at Croydon and Maryborough. There is no trace of volcanic rocks in this period, and the vitreous surface of the Desert Sandstone is due to the deposition of efflorescent chert. The Desert Sandstone formation has now been weathered into isolated plateaus and tent-shaped hills.
The Cainozoic group includes many volcanic rocks, mainly sheets of basalt, as at Townsville and Hughenden. Near l-lerberton, between the head of the Burdekin and the Einasleigh River, the basalts occupy 2000 sq. m. of country. Their age appears to be Oligocene, as they probably correspond with the oldest Cainozoic basalts of Victoria. Volcanic rocks of a later period occur north of Cooktown, and in the Einasleigh River, where the eruptive centres are recognizable; and a series of hot springs, some of which are described as geysers, represent the last stage of volcanic activity. The most important Cainozoic sedimentary rocks are the bone breccias, made up of bones of extinct marsupials, such as Diprotodon, Thylacoleo and giant Kangaroos. They appear to have been bogged in the mud by drying water holes, during droughts. The bones also occur in beds of gravel and sand, and they have been found in places covered by 188 ft. of overlying deposits. Caves occur in the limestones, and on their floors there are beds yielding bones of marsupials and extinct birds; but no well authenticated case of the ancient remains of man has yet been established.
The chief mineral product of Queensland is gold, found in veins in Archean, Palaeozoic and Lower Mesozoic rocks. The most famous gold mines are Mount Morgan, now changing into a copper mine, Charters Towers and Gympie. Tin is found in the fields of Herberton, Cooktown and Stannary Hills. Copper occurs near Herberton, Chillagoe and Mungana, coal in southern Queensland in the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Mesozoic deposits.
A full account of the geology of Queensland up to 1892 is given in jack and Etheridge’s Geology of Queensland. The tectonic geology of the coast-line has been described by E. C. Andrews, and the general geology is described in the numerous valuable publications of the Geological Survey of Queensland. A summary of the mineral resources was issued by by the Queensland government in 1901. information regarding the artesian water supply is given in the Annual Reports of the Queensland Hydraulic Engineer.  (J. W. G.)
Flora.—The Queensland flora comprehends most of the forms peculiar to Australia, with the addition of about five hundred species belonging to the Indian and Malayan regions. There are no mountain ranges of sufficient altitude to make any appreciable change in the plant-life. Bellenden Ker, the highest mountain in tropical Australia, has a height of only 5200 ft., and the plants growing upon its summit, as well as on the highest parts of the neighbouring mountains, are for the most part similar to those on the low lands in the southern parts of the state, and the plants which may be considered as peculiar to these heights are few in number of species.” They consist of a Leptospermum and a (?) Myrtus, which attain a height of about 30 or 40 ft., and have wide spreading, densely leaved heads. The most attractive of the tall shrubs are Dracophyllum Sayeri, of which there are two forms, Rhododendron Lochac and Orites fragrans. A few orchids of small growth are met with, but the only large species known to inhabit these localities is the normal form of Dendrobium speciosum. These high spots have a few ferns peculiar to them, and of others it is the only known Australian habitat; for instance, the pretty whitefronded java Bristle-fern (Trichomanes pallidum) has onl so far in Australia been met on the south peak of Bellenden Kiir; here also Todea Fraseri may be seen with trunks 2 to 3 ft. high. The sides of these mountains are clothed by a dense forest scrub growth, some of the trees being ve tall, but diminishing in height towards the summits. Palms and fern-trees are plentiful, but the greatest variety are met with at about 4000 ft. altitude. So far this is the only known habitat of that beautiful fern-tree Alsophila Rebeccae var. commutata, peculiar for the wig-like growth at the summit of its stem, which is formed by the metamorphosed lower pinnae and pinnules.
The Myrtaceous genus Eucalyptus, of which sixty species are found, furnishes the greater part of what is designated “Hardwoods,” the kinds being variously termed “Box,” “Gum,” “Ironbark,” “Bloodwood,” “Tallow-wood,” “Stringy-bark,” &c. These are mostly trees of large size. Other large trees of the order which supply hard, durable timber are the broad-leaved tea-tree (Melaleuca leucadendron and others), “Swamp Mahogany ” (Tristania suaveolens), “Brisbane Box” (T. conferta), “Turpentine” (Syncarpia laurifolia), “Peebeen” (S. Hillii), “Penda” (Xanthostemon oppositrfolius). These are most generally cut at sawmills. Other orders, however, furnish equally serviceable, large-sized timber, 'particularly the following:—“Sour Plum” (Owenia venosa, Meliaceae), “Red Cedar” (Cedrela Toona), “Crow's Ash” (Flindersia austral is, Meliaceae), “Burdekin Plum” (Pleiogynium Solandri, Anacardiaceae); “Bean-tree” (Castanospermum australe, Leguminosae), “Johnstone River Teak" (Afzelia australis, Leguminosae), “Ringy Rosewood" (Acacia glaucescens, Leguminosae), “Black Walnut” (Cryptocarya Palmerstoni, Laurineae), “Hill's Teak” (Dissiliaria baloghioides). Many trees yield wood particularly adapted for carving and engraving, such as the “Native Pomegranate ” (Capparis nobilis), the “Native Orange” (Cilrus australis), “Sour Plum” (Owenia acidula), “Ivorywood” (Siphonodon australe). Coachbuilders and wheelwrights use the wood of many myrtaceous trees and several others, with Flindersias (Meliaceae), whilst tool-handles are also formed from these and other trees. There is also a large variet of woods suited for cabinetmaking and building. A large number furnish tannin barks, gums, &c. The tannin barks are mostly derived from various kinds of acacia. Three spice barks, locally known as sassafras, are employed for favouring-in the northern parts, Daphnandra aromatzca, a Monimiaceous tree, and Cinnamomum Tamala; and in the southern parts Cinnamomum Oliveri. Many indigenous plants are used in domestic medicines, and several are recognized in the Pharmacopaeia, such as Eucalypts, Cinnamomums, Sideroxylons, Alstonias, Duboisias and Pipers.
With regard to fodder-plants, no country is better furnished; there are many herbs and a large number of salt bushes and other shrubs, which form excellent auxiliaries to the food supply for stock. It is, however, to the grasses that the excellence of the pastures is mainly due. On the extensive plains where the best species abound may be seen a large number of the genus Panicum, of which the following are looked upon with the greatest favour:- “Vandyke grass,” a form of P. flavidum, “Cockatoo grass” (P. semialatum), on the roots of which a species of cockatoo, in some parts of North Queensland, feeds; “Barley grass” (P. decompositum and P. distachyum); “Blue grass” (Andropogon sericeus, A. pertusus, A. refract us, and A. erianthoides); “Russell River grass” (Pasfalum gglmarra, nearly allied to the South American species P. panicuatum, minutzflorum, and P. brewfolium, Agrogyrum scabrum); “Tall Oat grass” (Anthistiria avenacea); “Lands orough grass” (Anthis-Iiria membranacea); Danthonia racemosa, D. pilosa, D. pallida, and D. semi annularis; Sporobolus Benthami, an excellent species found near the Diamantina and Georgina rivers, and S. aclinocladus; Stga aristiglumis, Leptochloa chinensis, Microlaena stipoides; “ arly spring grass" (Eriochloa punctata), with the following “Love grasses”: -Eragrostis Brown-ii, E. chaetophylla, E. 'losa and E. tenella. The “Mitchell grasses” (Astrebla pectinata and its varieties, viz. the Wheat (tricoides), the weeping (elymoides) and the curly (curvifolia), are those that have the most extraordinary vitality, but some stockholders consider that the “Sugar grass" or “Brown Top" (Pallinia fulua) surpasses them in its quickness of bursting into leaf with the first showers of rain.
Amongst the fruits are Antidesma Bunius, A. Dallachyanum, A. erostre, A. Ghaesembilla, and A. parvifolium, called cherries or currants according to the size of the fruit they bear, the jelly made from the fruit of some species being in nowise inferior to that made from the European red currant. The Kumquat or lime of Southern Downs country (Atalantia glauca) makes a peculiarly nice-flavoured preserve. Of the allied genus Citrus two species are met with in the south, C. australir, which has a round fruit 1 to 2 in. in diameter; the other, C. australasica, with long finger-like fruits 3 or more inches long and about I in. in diameter; of this a red variety (C. inodora), which is only met with in the tropics, bears a fruit often 21/2 in. long by 11/4 in. diameter. All these fruits are juicy, and of an agreeably sharp, acid flavour. “Davidson’s Plum" (Davidsonia pruriens) is a fruit with a sharply acid, rich, plum-coloured juice, sometimes attaining the size of a goose's egg. Of the genus Eugenia, over thirty are indigenous, and fully one-third produce more or less useful fruits. One Fig (Ficus gracilipes) produces a fruit used for jam and jelly. Two Garcinias are recorded as indi enous, but of one only (G. Mestoni) is the fruit known. It is of a depressed globular form, sometimes 3 in. in diameter, very juicy, and of a pleasant flavour. Leptomeria acida, one of the very early fruits used by Australian colonists, is met with in some localities. The “Finger Berry” or “Native Loquat ” (Rhodomyrtus macrocarpa) makes a good jam, but is in bad repute for use in the raw state, perhaps owing to a peculiar fungus at ​ times found to infest the berries. The Queensland Raspberry (Rubus rosaefolius) is widely spread and commonly used, but the fruit is rather insipid. The representatives of the genus Vitis all belong to the sub-genus Cissus; several of them, although somewhat acrid, are useful for jam and jelly: probably the best for the purpose is one met with near the Walsh River, V. Gardineri, which is said to bear bunches from 1 ℔ to 2 ℔ in weight, the berries being large and of pleasant flavour. A large number of nut-like fruits are used by the aborigines for food, but the only one used by the White population is the fruit of Macadamia ternifolia, the Queensland nut.
The foliage of many plants yields by distillation essential oils, particularly Eucalypts, Backhousias and other Myrtaceous plants. as well as some belonging to Rutaceae and Labiatae, especially the genus Mentha. Apart from plants of economic value, there is a profusion of ornamental plants, shrubs, trees and parasites. Of ferns, one-half of the kinds met with in Australia are found in Queensland as well as in the other states, one-fourth in Queensland alone, the remaining fourth belonging to the other states, but not to Queensland. The indigenous ferns equal in number those of New Zealand, and are three times the number of those of Great Britain.
Fauna.—The land fauna of Queensland is essentially one with that of the entire continent. But the geographical position of the state, which exposes it to the climatic and transporting influences of the inter tropical Pacific, has to a notable extent impressed on its fauna characters of its own. It has thus been made the headquarters of Australian bird-life on land and fish-life at sea, the moisture of its coastal regions and the warmth of its tidal waters being eminently favourable to that wealth of insect and other low types of life which determines the multiplication of the higher. The quadrupeds of Queensland are of the ordinary Australian type already described. Of the predominant class, the marsupials, one of the most interesting forms is the Tree-Kangaroo (Dendrolagus), as, apart from the habit of climbing trees, which is shared to some extent by the Rock-Wallabies, they afford a proof of the one-time continuity of the fauna with that of the islands to the north, when land communication still existed between the two areas. Of these curious animals, two species at least are known. As to the rest of the marsupials, there is of course a general resemblance to those of the continent as a whole, but this is accompanied by much evolution of forms, especially among the smaller sorts, recognized by differences which are occasionally sufficient to mark off distinct generic, or even more differentiated groups. The larger Kangaroos are pretty conservative in character everywhere, while the common Wallabies, the Rock-Wallabies and the Kangaroo-Rats exhibit a greater tendency to differ from their southern and western kindred. The Koala, or native Bear, is almost absolutely invariable, a sign of the antiquity of the race. The Opossums and the so-called Flying-Opossums are not many in species, and are dwarfed descendants from a more flourishing ancestry. The Bandicoot family (Peramelidae) is fairly represented; it includes the rabbit-bandicoot, which crosses in its eastern range the western border of the country. Carnivorous marsupials of destructive powers are few; the largest of them, the spotted-tailed native cat (Dasyurus maculatus), is the most troublesome. Superior in size to the domestic cat, this pretender to the rank of cat is able to devastate a whole hen-roost in a single night, and is even said by the aboriginals to attack their infants. With the exception of a smaller species of the same kind, and a brush-tailed ally very much smaller, but yet able to kill a fowl with a single bite, the rest (marsupial mice) are but partly carnivorous, chiefly insectivorous, and therefore useful. This fauna is now fortunately deprived of the Thylacinus (Native Tiger) and Sarcophilus (Native Devil), which have been driven by physical changes southwards to Tasmania, and, it was thought until lately, of the Wombats, but a new species of these inoffensive burrowers has recently been discovered within the southern borders of the state. One other peculiarity in the form of a marsupial mammal is the little Musk-Rat (Hypsiprymnus), inhabiting those northern scrubs which are so prolific in other animal forms foreign to the rest of Australia, and seem to have received some of their denizens from the Malay Archipelago and some from the Papuan Islands. The remarkable deposits of fossil bones, extending -in patches throughout the length of the country, are sufficient proof that in former times a much larger number of animals were supported by it than are now to be found within its borders. Queensland has only one native carnivorous beast, the dingo, not a marsupial. Rats and mice of native origin are in considerable variety; among them are the Jumping Rats (Hapolotis). Jerboa-like little animals, which are seldom seen. The bats are of several species; the most notorious of them are the great fruit-bats, or flying-foxes, which the fruit grower could well enough spare. The Sirenian mammal, the dugong, haunts nearly the whole of the coast-line. The Echidna, a porcupine ant-eater, and the playtpus are met with in the south. Batrachians are limited to the frogs and their nearest allies—that is, to the tailless division of the order, the tailed batrachians (newts, &c.) being, as far as is known at present, entirely absent. The greater art of the frogs are arboreal in habit, the most familiar being the large Green Tree Frog. The exuberance and diversity of their food have doubtless been the cause of their differentiation into many distinct species, which enables them to play a very useful part in checking. the undue increase of noxious insects. Snakes, on the other hand, are in too great variety for human interests, as they live very largely on insecteeders. The great majority belong to the venomous Colubridae, but fortunately the kinds of which the bite is more or less deadly are not numerous, and snake-bite is one of the rarest causes of death. Those with the worst reputation are the Black Snake and the Orange-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis), the Brown Snake (Diemansia), the Keeled Snake (Tropidechis), and the Death Adder (Acanthopis). The principal non-venomous species are the Pythons or constricting snakes, e.g. the common Carpet Snake (Morelia), the long lithe Tree Snake (Dendrophis) and the Fresh-water Snake (Tropidonotus). The Black-headed Rock Snake* (Aspidiotes), one of the Pythons, is said to reach the length of from 20 to 25 ft., but to be perfectly inoffensive. Several kinds of marine snakes occur on the coasts, and all are to be accounted dangerous. Of reptiles, the most numerou s group by far is that of the lizards, which have among them representatives of each of the leading families of the class except the Chameleons. Tortoises are exemplified by many forms in the fresh waters; on the coasts by the leather-back, the edible turtle and the tortoise-shell turtle. Queensland waters are not at present infested by any species of alligator, though in times past one of large size was a scourge on the borders of the then inland sea. The crocodilian of its coasts is they crocodile of the Indian Seas, which ranges over the whole of the western tropical Pacific, and wanders south into Queensland waters as far as Keppel Bay. In the fresh-water pools of the northern tableland is found a small and harmless crocodile (Philas) of a very uncommon form. The avifauna is to the naturalist exceedingly attractive, for it is full of surprises and interesting lines of research, while to the artist it is a storehouse of form and colour. Where flowering and honey yielding trees prevail, a profusion of birds seek their food either on the insects attracted by the honey, or, if so fitted, on the honey itself. Accordingly, the most striking feature of the bird-life, amid the forests of eucalyptus and acacias, is its richness in honey-eaters and insect destroyers. The former, however, taken as a whole, are not a natural group, but include a family of perching birds and a portion of the parroquet family, both furnished with brush tongues adapted to the extraction of honey. A second characteristic is the great development of that quaint company, thefbower birds, among them the regent bird, satin bird, cat birds, &c., constructors of the elaborate playgrounds which have excited so much attention. A third is the presence in one small part of the territory of a cassowary, and on its seaboard of three kinds of rifle birds, both extensions southwards of the tropical families of cassowaries and paradise birds. In the same region of prolific vegetation the handsome fruit-pigeons are also outliers of a large family of such pigeons spread through the Papuan jungles. There is one species of lyrebird found in the southern highlands; the giant kingfisher, a laughing jackass, is found in the same region. The Scrub-turkey (Catheturus) heaps its mound of rotting débris to ferment in the shade of the jungles and give warmth to its eggs; the Scrub-hen (Megapodius) piles up sand on the beach for the sun to furnish the necessary temperature. The comparative paucity of birds of prey (Falconidae), and the almost total absence of rasorial game- and poultry-birds, may be noted. Birds pursued for sport or profit, however, are not wanting. The Emu and the Bustard or Plain Turkey afford sport in the open country, Quail and Snipe in or near the timber, while rivers and lakes still unvisited by the gun are covered with Ducks and Geese, Swans and Pelicans. It has been said that Australia has no migratory birds: this is an error, founded upon an undue restriction of the term migratory. Several species could be mentioned which are truly migratory in Queensland, as the Drongo-shrike, Bee-eater, Dollar-bird, &c. On the land surface, among' its lowly organized products, interest centres in the multitudinous forms of insect-life, of which, excepting the Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) and Beetles (Coleoptera), comparatively little is known at present. Insects inimical to man, with the exception, in some localities, of ants, flies and mosquitoes, are inconsiderable in number, and possess few hurtful properties. Centipedes, scorpions and leeches are less troublesome than in most other tropical regions. Spiders present themselves in astonishing variety, but only one kind, a small black spider with red spots (Lathrodectus), is malignant. Among the larger insects proper, the great-winged Phasmas, the Skeleton or Stick-insects, the Leaf-insects, and the splendid Swallow-tailed Butterflies are especially notable. Many of the Beetles are remarkable for size or brilliancy of colour.
Fishes and Fisheries.—The class fishes is extraordinarily profuse in diversified forms, the coral reefs being the grazing- and hunting grounds of hosts of gorgeously decorated fish, chiefly of the Wrasse family; these, however, are almost equalled in beauty by the Chaetodons, Gurnards, &c., of other habitats, Among the Perches are the enormous Groper, which may attain the weight of 4 cwt., the Murray Cod, and the Giant Perch, both excellent food-fish of about 70 ℔ in weight. Sharks of many species abound. A survival from the Mesozoic period is the Ceratodus or Burnett Salmon, which, formerly inhabiting the headwaters of the Murray, still breeds in two of the smaller rivers north of the Bunya Range. This fish possesses a rudimentary lung in addition to ordinary gills. The ​ barrier reefs are thickets of corals of the most varied forms, in life glowing with colour, in death shrubs of snowy purity. Among the shell-fish conspicuous for beauty or rarity are the exquisitely delicate paper nautilus and Venus comb (Murex tenuispina), the orange and other valuable cowries, and the gigantic clam-shell, which may require a ship's tackle to lift it from its bed. The fishery of the trepang, bêche-de-mer or sea slug employs a considerable number of boats about the coral reefs. Boiled, smoke-dried and packed in bags, the trepang sells for exportation to China, though its agreeable and most nourishing soup is relished by Australian invalids. One species of this sea slug—the teat-fish—fetches as much as £240 per ton. The pearl fishery is a prosperous and progressive one in or near Torres Straits. A licence is paid, and the traffic is under government supervision. Thursday Island is the chief seat of this industry. The shells are procured by diving, and fetch from £120 to £200 a ton. Mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell constitute important exports of the colony, capable of great expansion. Oysters are as fine flavoured as they are abundant. Turtles are caught to the northward. Of the fish which frequent the coast, one of the best known varieties is the sea mullet (Mugilidae), large shoals of which strike the Australian coast 100 m. south of Sydney, and travel northwards, arriving on the southern coast-line of Queensland in the months of April and May, crossing bars and ascending rivers on the appearance of south-easterly weather. These magnificent fish often attain a weight of from 10 ℔ to 12 ℔. Small schools of bream succeed the mullet, and are followed in September and October by the poombah or tailor-fish, a fish of exceptional flavour, and much esteemed by epicures. These are succeeded by jewfish, specimens of which caught in southern waters have been known to exceed a weight of 50 ℔, whiting, garfish and flatheads, while founders, black and tongue soles are occasionally caught by seine or hauling nets. hite and black trevally, groper and rock cod, and a variety of bonito identical with the tunny of the Mediterranean Sea are also frequently met with. Several species of the tassel fish (Polynemus macrocohoir), from which isin lass is procured, have been taken by fishermen. King-fish, batfish, gurnards and eels of many varieties are also common. Schnapper, bream, rock cod, parrot-fish and groper are caught by hook and line in from 10 to 30 fathoms of water off the rocky headlands of the southern coast. Sardines, whitebait and sprats make their appearance in large shoals on the coast at intervals. The barramundi (Osteoglossum leichardti), which occurs in the Dawson and western waters, is found also on the east coast, and is one of the most esteemed fresh-water fish in Queensland. Dugong, which formerly were found in herds along the northern coast and as far south as Moreton Bay, are caught in set nets of 36 in. mesh, 100 fathoms in length. Different varieties of turtle are plentiful, the green edible turtle being caught by large set nets, and preserved and tinned for export. In Torres Strait and the northern coast the hawksbill turtle, yielding the valuable tortoise-shell of commerce, is said to be captured in a peculiar manner, the sucking-fish or remora (Echeneis naucrates) being utilized by the islanders for that purpose. The remora is carried alive in the bottom of the canoe, a long thin line being attached to the fish's tail and another usually to the gill. On a turtle being sighted and approached to within the length of the line, the sucking fish is thrown towards it, and immediately it swims to and attaches itself by its singular head sucker to the under surface of the turtle, which if of moderate size is easily pulled into the canoe.
Amongst the crustacean may be enumerated the gigantic clams which are found on the reefs of the Inner Route. Occasionally some are met with weighing nearly half a ton, embedded in coral. Fresh-water clams are found in the rivers in the northern districts. The edible oyster (Ostrea gramimfora) has been largely cultivated in southern Queensland. Amongst other crustacean, the squat lobster (Themis oftentalis) is, with giant prawns and quampi, or small golden-lipped pearl shell, obtained by trawling in the southern waters. Many varieties of crabs are also found on reefs and foreshores at low tide; prawns and shrimps are caught, dried, and form an article for export to China; mussels, pinna or razor-shell cockles, and eugaries (a species of small shell-fish) are also abundant.
Climate.—As one-half of Queensland lies within the tropics the climate is naturally warm, though the temperature has a daily range less than that of other countries under the same isothermal lines. This circumstance is due to the sea breezes, which blow with great regularity. The hot winds which prevail during the summer in some of the other states are unknown in Queensland. Of course, in a territory of such large extent there are many varieties of climate, and the heat is greater along the coast than on the elevated lands of the interior. In the northern parts of the state the high temperature is trying to persons of European descent. The mean temperature at Brisbane during December, January and February is about 76°, while during June, July and August it averages about 60°. In towns farther north, however, the average is higher. Winter in Rockhampton, for instance, averages nearly 65°, while the summer average rises almost to 85°. At Townsville and Normanton the average is higher still. The average rainfall is high, especially along the northern coast, where it ranges from 60 to 70 in. per annum. At Brisbane 50·01 in. is the average of 35 years, and even on the plains of the interior from 20 to 30 in. usually fall every year. West of the coast range the air is dry and hot, and in summer the thermometer rises frequently to 106° in the shade. The monsoons play an important part in cooling the atmosphere near the coast, and are very regular in the north. The winter climate is perfection, especially in the north, but frosts are frequent and regular west of the coast range. Ice is commonly seen at Herberton, 17° S., during winter, and on the Darling Downs frosts are of nightly occurrence.
Population.—The population of Queensland in 1905 was estimated at 528,048 290,206 males and 237,842 females, the density of population per sq. m. being about 0·79. In 1861, that is, two years after the separation from New South Wales, the population of the colony stood at 34,400; in 1871 it had reached 125,100; in 1881, 227,000; in 1891, 410,300, and at the census of 1901, 498,129. The policy of assisted immigration contributed greatly to Queensland’s progress, and people of foreign descent are proportionately more numerous than in any of the other states, though they only amount to 8·71% of the total population. At the census of 1901 there were 13,166 Germans, 3161 Danes, 2142 Scandinavians, and among coloured aliens 8587 Chinese, 2269 Japanese, 939 Hindoos and Cingalese, 9327 Pacific Islanders, and 1787 other races, making a total of 22,909 coloured aliens. It is estimated that the total aboriginal population of Queensland is about 25,000.
The births in 1905 were 13,626, of which 950 were illegitimate, and the deaths 5503, the respective rates per thousand of the population being 25·92 and 10·47. The decline in the birth rate will be gathered from the following table:—
| Period. | Birth Rate per 1000   of Population. | Period. | Birth Rate per 1000   of Population. |
| 1861–65 1866–70 1871–75 1876–80 1881–85 | .  .  43·07 .  .  43·91 .  .  40·81 .  .  36·72 .  .  36·37 | 1886–90 1891–95 1896–1900 1901-05 | .  .  38·81 .  .  35·15 .  .  30·40 .  .  26·60 |
The death rate shows a remarkable diminution: in 1861–65 it averaged 21·06 per 1000; in 1871–75, 17·94; in 1881–85, 19·10; and in 1891–95, 12·82. The marriage rate in 1905 was 6·04 per 1000, being an increase on the figures for 1904 of 95.
The chief cities and towns, with their population in 1905, are:—Brisbane, 128,000; Rockhampton, 15,461; Gympie, 13,200; Maryborough, 12,000; Townsville, 10,950; Toowoomba, 10,700; Ipswich, 8637; Mount Morgan, 8836; Charters Towers, 6000; Bundaberg, 5000.
Administration.—As one of the Commonwealth states Queensland returns six senators and nine representatives to the federal parliament. The state parliament consists of a. legislative council of 37 members nominated for life, and a legislative assembly of 72 members, who each receive £300 per annum for their services. For purposes of local government the state in 1905 was divided into 46 municipalities and 125 shires. The boroughs control 354 sq. m. and the shires 667,898 sq. m.; the revenue and expenditure of the former in 1905 being respectively £312,510 and £321,645, and of the latter £190,837 and £180,457. Revenue is mainly derived from rates levied on the capital value of assessed properties, which amounted for the whole state to £42,358,173, representing an annual value of £2,647,400. All improvements are exempt from assessment, and much of the revenue is expended in road-making and the building of bridges. Rates are supplemented by an endowment from the central government.
Education.—Public education is free, unsectarian and compulsory. State or provisional schools are formed wherever an average attendance of twelve children can be got. Theoretically the school age is from six to twelve years, but in practice compulsory attendance is seldom if ever enforced in certain parts, owing mainly to the difficulty of providing suitable schools within reasonable access. In 1905 there were 1044 state schools, with 2382 teachers and 88,903 scholars. Of private schools the number in 1905 was 171, with 739 teachers and 14,891 pupils. Exclusive of coloured aliens almost the whole adult population can read and write. In 1905 the sum spent on education was £281,575. Ten grammar schools are endowed by the state. By a system of competitive scholarships the government gives free education in grammar schools to scholars in state schools, and also three-yearly exhibitions to universities to students who pass an examination of a high standard. State aid is also rendered to schools of art, schools of design, free libraries and technical schools.
There is no state church. Amongst the different denominations the Church of England, at the date of the last census, numbered 37·5% of the population, the Roman Catholic 24·5%, the Presbyterians 11·7, the Methodists 9·5, the Baptists 2·60, the Jews 0·2, other Christian bodies 12·3, Pagans and Mahommedans, 4·43.
Finance.—For the year ending June 1905, the receipts amounted to £3,595,399, equal to £6, 17s. 10d. per inhabitant. The chief items of revenue were: taxation, £454,574; crown lands, £623,416; railways, £1,409,414; balance refunded by the federal government, £752,532. The expenditure for that year was £3,581,403, equal to £6, 17s. 4d. per inhabitant; the chief items being:—interest on public debt, £1,547,091; railways, £812,931; education, £322,496; charitable institutions, £135,338.' The public debt of the state at the end of 1905 was £39,068,827, or £74, 6s. 3d. per inhabitant; an actual
the bulk of this sum, £23,567,554, having been expended on railways. The following shows the growth of the public indebtedness:—
| Year. | | Total Debt. | Debt per Inhabitant. | Debt per Inhabitant. | Debt per Inhabitant. | Debt per Inhabitant. |
| 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1905 | . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . . | £70,000 4,047,850 13,245,150 29,457,134 39,338,427 39,068,827 | £2 32 58 73 76 74 | 0 6 7 12 8 6 | 9 11 2 5 6 3 | |
Defence.—The Commonwealth defence forces in Queensland had strength at the end of 1905 of 7212 men, comprising a permanent force of 258, 2486 militia, 959 cadets and 3189 riflemen.
Mining.—In Mount Morgan Queensland possesses one of the chief gold mines of the world, and this mine is also one of the leading copper mines of the Commonwealth. In 1905 the value of the mineral production of the state was £3,726,275, being an excess over that of the previous year of £22,034, the highest in the history of the state. This advance was due, not to any improvement in the gold yield, which, latterly, has receded from the high level of former years, but to the increased output of the industrial metals. The value of the minerals, other than gold, won during 1905 amounted to £1,208,980, almost one-third of the total value of the year’s mineral production, in which gold represented £2,517,295§ silver, £69,176; Copper. £503,547; tin, £297,454, and coal, £155,477.
Agriculture.—The total area under cultivation in Queensland in 1905 was 622,987 acres, the principal crops being:—wheat, 119,356 acnes; maize, 113,720 acres; hay, 37,425 acres; green forage, 66,183 acres; potatoes, 7170 acres; barley, 5201 acres. Sugar-cane cultivation is important. The progress of the industry may be gauged from the following figures:—area under cane in 1864, 94 acres; 1871, 9581 acres; 1881, 28,026 acres; 1891, 50,948 acres; 1901, 112,031 acres; 1905, 134,107 acres. The greater part of the field work on the Queensland plantations was long performed by coloured labour, chiefly South Sea islanders. In 1901, however, the federal parliament passed an act under the provisions of which a limited number of Pacific islanders were allowed to enter Australia up to the 31st of March 1904, but after that date their coming was to be prohibited. All agreements for the employment of these Kanakas were to terminate on the 31st of December 1906, after which date all Pacific islanders were to be deported. Fruit cultivation has attained considerable importance. In 1905, 2044 acres were under vines; 6198 under bananas; 1845 under pineapples; 3078 under oranges; 374 under mangoes; 173 under strawberries; 537 under apples. The soil and climate of Queensland are admirably fitted for the production of excellent cotton, but this promise has not been realized. In 1871 the export of this staple was over 2,600,000 ℔, valued at £79,000; the production gradually diminished and in 1898 absolutely ceased. The year 1902 saw a revival when 8 acres were planted; and in 1905 171 acres were devoted to cotton growing. While the area set apart for tobacco cultivation continues to increase, the yield in 1905 being 10,230 cwt. (cured leaf) from 933 acres, the production of coffee dropped from 132,554 Ib in 1904 to 82,230 ℔ in 1905.
Stock-raising is, however, the principal industry of the country. At the close of 1905 the numbers of the principal kinds of stock depastured were: cattle, 2,963,695; sheep, 12,535,231; horses, 430,565; swine, 164,087. The cattle industry has been greatly affected by the ravages of the cattle tick and by a succession of disastrous seasons, and the number in the state in 1905 was considerably less than half the number mustered in 1894. As the state is very lightly stocked a few good seasons will serve to bring the number of cattle up to the previous greatest record. The sheep industry in Queensland though of less importance than the cattle, is still considerable, and of the six states of Australia, Queensland ranks second in the number which it departures. The sheep depastured in 1905 were some nine millions less than in 1892. The weight of wool exported in 1905 was 53,072,727 ℔; in 1892, however, the export was over 105 millions. Good progress has been made in dairying, the production of butter in 1905 being 20,320,000 ℔; of cheese, 2,682,089 ℔; of bacon and ham, 10,500,335 ℔. It is estimated that the annual value of the pastoral and dairying industry of Queensland is about £8,224,000. The export of live cattle in 1905 amounted in value to £1,500,855; of fresh and preserved meat, £707,345; of wool, £2,280,924; of tallow, £183,372—in 1894 the tallow export was nearly 30,000 tons, valued at £596,000.
Manufactures.—Queensland is not populous enough to have manufactures on a large scale, nevertheless there are 21,705 persons employed in the 1911 establishments of the state. The majority of these persons are engaged in the preparation of natural products for export, such as sugar, preserved meats and the like, or in industries arising out of the domestic requirements of the population. The horse power employed in 1905 was 28,009; the value of plant and machinery was £3,988,056; and of land and premises £2,709,951; while the value of the output stood at £8,130,480.
Commerce.—The shipping entering Queensland ports in 1905 had a tonnage of 1,067,741 as compared with 468,607 in 1890. The imports in 1905 were £6,699,345, which is much less than the average of Australia, but nearly all the Queensland importations are for home consumption, whereas New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have a large re-export trade. In 1861 the imports were valued at £968,000, or £31 per inhabitant; in 1871, £1,563,000, or £13 per inhabitant; in 1881, £4,064,000, or £18, 6s. per inhabitant; in 1891, £5,079,000, or £12, 155. per inhabitant; in 1900, £7,184,112, or £14, 13s. 3d. per inhabitant. The disparity between the capitation figures of various years is due chiefly to two causes: the irregularity of the state borrowings, and the manner in which private capital has been sent from England and from the Australian states for investment in Queensland, both the borrowings and the investments appearing in the imports. The important bearing of these two items on the Queensland import trade may be gathered from the fact that, since 1863, there has been an inflow of capital into the state at the rate of about one million and a quarter sterling per annum. The exports from Queensland in 1905 were valued at £11,939,594, which is equal to the very high average of £22, 14s. 3d. per head; nearly the whole amount represents goods and produce of local origin. Going back to 1861 the amount of exports at the various decennial periods was:—
| Year. | Value of Total Exports. | Value of Total Exports. | Exports per Head. | Exports per Head. | Exports per Head. | Exports per Head. |
| 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 | . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . . | £709,599   2,760,045   3,540,366   8,305,387   9,249,366 | £22 22 15 20 18 | 14 18 18 13 5 | 8 8 6 6 10 | |
Brisbane is the chief seat of trade, but this port does not hold so predominating a position as do the chief cities of the other states in regard to their minor ports. In 1905 the trade at the seven principal seaports of Queensland was:—
| Port. | | Imports. | Exports. |
| Brisbane Rockhampton Townsville Bundaberg Maryborough Mackay Cairns | . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . .   . . . . | £4,104,574 437,068 671,853 121,567 157,023 80,468 184,716 | £3,524,939 1,708,489 1,838,055 498,381 248,706 499,034 873,370 |
Railways.—Up to 1905 the state had expended £21,683,355 upon the construction and equipment of railways. The mileage open for traffic at the end of that year was 3113; there were also 268 m. of privately owned railways. Railway construction in the state commenced in 1864, some five years after the introduction of responsible government. Progress during the early years was very slow; in 1871 only 218 m. had been constructed and in 1881 only 800 m.; between 1881 and 1891 railway construction was pushed on rapidly, an average of 152 m. a year being opened between those dates. In 1891 the length open for traffic was 2320 m., and in 1901 2801 m. The state railways in 1905 earned £1,483,535 and the working expenses were £851,627, leaving the net earnings £631,908, which is equal to 2·91% upon the capital expended. As the rate of interest paid on the outstanding loans of the Queensland government is 3·94, there is an actual loss to the state of 0·30%. This loss, however, is more than counterbalanced by the advantages resulting from the construction of the railways.
Posts and Telegraphs.—There were 1360 post offices in the state in 1905; telegraph stations numbered 515, and there were 19 telephone exchanges. The revenue from these three services in 1905 was respectively £233,523, £88,285 and £31,765—a total of £353,573, as against an expenditure of £415,420.
Banking.—The liabilities of the eleven banks trading in the state in 1905 totalled £13,770,865, and the assets £16,362,292. The deposits amounted to £13,217,084. The banks held coin and bullion to the value of £1,897,576. In the Government Savings Bank there was a sum of £3,992,758 to the credit of 84,163 depositors. The deposits in all banks amounted, therefore, to £17,209,842, which represents £32, 11s. 10d. per head of population.
Authorities.—Statistical Register of Queensland (annual); Queensland Official Year Book (1901); Reports of the Government Statistician; H. Russell, Genesis of Queensland (Sydney, 1888); T. Weedon, Queensland Past and Present (Brisbane, 1897); T. A. Coghlan, Australia and New Zealand (Sydney, 1904); F. M. Bailey, Notes on the Flora at Queensland. (T. A. C.)
History
The Portuguese may have known the northern shore nearly a century before Torres, in 1605, sailed through the strait since called after him, or before the Dutch landed in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Captain Cook passed along the eastern coast in 1770, taking possession of the country as New South Wales. Flinders visited Moreton Bay in 1802. Oxley was on the Brisbane in 1823, and Allan Cunningham on Darling Downs in 1827. Sir T. L. Mitchell in 1846-47 made known the Maranoa, Warrego, and Barcoo districts. Leichhardt in 1845-47 traversed the coast country, going round the gulf to Port Essington, but was lost in his third great journey. Kennedy followed down the Barcoo, but was killed by the blacks while exploring York Peninsula. Burke and Wills crossed western Queensland in 1860. Landesborough, Walker, M‘Kinlay, Hann, jack, Hodgkinson and F avence continued the researches. Squatters and miners opened new regions. Before its separation in 18 SQ the country was known as the Moreton Bay district of New South Wales. A desire to form fresh penal depots led to the discovery of Brisbane river in December 1823, and the proclamation of a penal settlement there in August 1826. The convict population was gradually withdrawn again to Sydney, and in 1842 the place was declared open to free persons only. The first land sale in Brisbane was on August 9, 1843. An attempt was made in 1846, under the colonial ministry of Gladstone, to establish at Gladstone on Port Curtis the colony of North Australia for ticket-of-leave men from Britain and Yan Diemen’s Land. Earl Grey, when secretary for the Colonies, under strong colonial appeals arrested this policy, and broke up the convict settlement. In 1841 there were 176 males and 24 females; in 1844, 540 in all; in 1846, 1867. In 1834 the governor and the English rulers thought it necessary to abandon Moreton Bay altogether, but the order was withheld. The first stock belonged wholly tof the colonial Government, but flocks and herds of settlers came on the Darling Downs in 1841. In 1844 there were 17 squatting stations round Moreton Bay and 26 in Darling Downs, having 13,295 cattle and 184,651 sheep. In 1849 there were 2812 horses, 72,096 cattle, and 1,077,983 sheep. But there were few persons in Brisbane and Ipswich. The Rev. Dr Lang then began his agitation in England on behalf of this northern district.
Some settlers, who sought a separation from New South Wales, offered to accept British convicts if the ministry granted independence. In answer to their memorial a shipload of ticket-of-leave men was sent in 1850. In spite of the objection of Sydney, the Moreton Bay district was separated from New South Wales by an Order in Council of 13th May 1859, and proclaimed the colony of Queensland. The population was then about 20,000, and the revenue £6475.
The constitution, which was based upon the New South Wales Act of 1853, provided for 16 electoral districts, with a representation of 26 members. A Legislative Council was also formed, to which the governor of New South Wales, Sir William Denison, appointed 5 members, to hold office for four years, and Sir George Ferguson Bowen, the first governor of the new colony, 8 life members. Robert (afterwards Sir Robert) George Wyndham Herbert was the first premier and colonial secretary, and held office until 1866. Of the 39 representatives in the first Parliament, 20 were pastoralists; the others may be roughly classed as barristers, solicitors, and merchants. The pastoralists were the pioneers of settlement in the colony; those best known were the Archers of Gracemere, the Bells of Jimboor, the Gores of Yandilla, the Bigges of Mount Brisbane, Mr (afterwards Sir) Arthur Hodgson, Robert Ramsay, Gordon Sandeman, and Messrs Kent and Wienholt. The white population at the end of 1859 was 25,788, and the exports were valued at £500,000
Herbert’s Administration, 1859–1866.—The first Parliament was opened on May 29, 1860. The providing of revenue and the establishment of immigration were the chief matters for consideration. The treasury was practically empty, but Sir Saul Samuel, treasurer of New South Wales, took a broad and generous view of the situation, and rendered financial aid, whilst in 1861 the first Government loan of £123,800 was authorized, the money being appropriated to public works and European immigration. Labour was so scarce that as early as 1851 the squatters had imported Chinese; various schemes for the introduction of coolies on a large scale were now mooted, but public opinion was decidedly against any increase in the number of coloured aliens then in the colony. In 1859 the educational system was a mixed national and denominational one; there were 10 schools of the latter class, 1 of the former, and 30 private schools. In 1860 a Board of General Education was established, which extinguished the denominational system and placed the schools under State control. In the same year State aid to religion was abolished. The governor, in opening Parliament in 1863, pronounced decisively against the reintroduction of convicts. In that year Queensland boldly grappled with the extension of colonizing, and a settlement was established at the northerly point of Cape York peninsula by Mr jardine. During the following two years ports were opened along the coast, and pastoral occupation spread far into the northern and western interiors. The first sod of the first railway, from Ipswich to the Darling Downs, was turned on 15th February 1864. On February 1, 1866, Mr Herbert retired, and Mr Macalister became premier and Mr Mackenzie colonial secretary. In the following July the failure of the Overend and Gurney and Agra banks, in the latter of which the Government had public moneys, caused the collapse of a loan which was being negotiated in London. A panic followed: the Government could not pay the railway contractors, and the navvies employed by them started for Brisbane, threatening to hang the ministers and loot the town. On arrival, however, they were easily headed off to a reserve. By this time the treasury was empty, general insolvency prevailed, and the community appeared to be wrecked. Treasury bills to the amount of £300,000 were issued, and the governor in council was authorized to legalize treasury notes, when necessary, as currency, payable in gold on demand, to tide over the crisis. Prior to this, however, the treasurer took preliminary steps to issue £300,000 “Legal Tender Notes”—inconvertible “greenbacks”—but Sir George Bowen informed the premier that he should veto such a scheme, and suggested the issue of treasury bills. Mr Macalister thereupon resigned, and Mr Herbert, who had made arrangements to proceed to England (where subsequently he became permanent secretary of the Colonial Office), took office again to help the colony through the difficulty. His second ministry lasted for eighteen days, and, having passed the Treasury Bills Act, he retired from the public life of Queensland. The only determined opposition the Herbert ministry met with was from the townspeople's representatives, whose contention was that the squatters dipped too deeply into the public purse for public works expenditure; but an important factor in the early parliamentary days was the opposition between the Brisbane and Ipswich parties in the House, the latter town aspiring to be the capital of the colony.
The Discovery of the Goldfields, 1866–1879.—Macalister returned to power in August 1866, and dealt so vigorously with the after-effects of the financial crisis that by the end of 1867 affairs had approached their normal condition. A new era was now opened for Queensland by the discovery of gold. The Gympie field was discovered by Nash in 1867, and a big “rush” resulted. In 1872 Hugh Mosman discovered Charters Towers, the premier goldfield of the colony; and Hann, the rich Palmer diggings. Other important discoveries were also made, and Queensland has ever since been a gold-producing colony. Mining is the foundation upon which much of the progress of the colony has been built, and the legislation and records show continuous traces of the influence of the gold-getter. In 1873 John Murtagh Macrossan, a digger, was returned to Parliament expressly as a mining representative; and other men of a different stamp from the representatives of the squatters and townspeople, who had ​ hitherto composed the House, now began to enter public life. From 1870 to 1879 progress was satisfactory, trade interests were prosperous, and in this decade the foundations of the public and social structure of Queensland were laid. Agriculture was extended, and sugar-growing took the place of cotton cultivation. (The first crop of sugar was grown by the Hon. Louis Hope at Cleveland, about 1862.) Hitherto politics had been non-partisan, and legislation was chiefly of a domestic character. From the time of Herbert’s departure until the appearance of Thomas McIlwraith and Samuel Walker Griffith, the two master-spirits of Queensland parliamentary life, the political history of the colony was composed of short-lived administrations, with Messrs Macalister, Mackenzie, Palmer, Lilley, George Thorn and John Douglas (afterwards Government Resident at Thursday Island) as premiers. Arthur Hunter Palmer (whose administration, from 1870 to 1874, had the longest life), a. New South Wales squatter, entered the Queensland Parliament in 1866. He was one of the most popular of Queensland’s parliamentary leaders, and has left the impress of his labours on the public works, and educational and defence force systems of the colony. In 1870 Queensland was disappointed in her ambition of becoming the connecting-point for Australia with the European and Eastern cable systems. A company—the British Australian Telegraph Company—was formed in London to connect Australia by cable with Singapore. The plan provided for a land line from the Queensland telegraphs at Burketown to Port Darwin, in the Northern Territory, where the cable was to be landed. Writing on 25th January 1870, the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company officially informed the governor of Queensland that it had received a contract from the British Australian Telegraph Company to construct “cables and land lines, to be laid between Singapore and Burketown, in North Australia.” The Construction Company deputed Commander Noel Osborn to negotiate with the Governments of South Australia and Queensland in reference to the land line; but on arrival in Adelaide he accepted the offer of the South Australian Government to construct and maintain a telegraph line right across the continent from Port Darwin to Adelaide, and Queensland was informed that the original plan had been abandoned. Although the company was thus saved the expense of making and maintaining the Port Darwin–Burketown line, it was regarded as having broken faith with Queensland, which had specially pushed on her telegraph system to connect with the proposed line. In consequence of this incident Queenslanders have not always had the facilities for cheap cabling to Europe enjoyed by the other colonies, though the subsequent owners of the cable, the Eastern Companies, were in no way responsible for the act of their predecessors.
A resolution in favour of the payment of members was carried in 1871. In 1872 the first Agent-General in London, Richard Daintree, was appointed. The same year the Railways Act Amendment Act was passed, authorizing the construction of railways by private enterprise, land being offered as compensation for the outlay. Electoral representation was increased to forty-two members. In January 1874 Palmer resigned, and Macalister came into power for two years, the most important measure of his Government being the State Education Act of 1875, on which the present educational system is based. Both Messrs McIlwraith and Griffith were members of the Macalister ministry, but the former resigned in October 1874, owing to a difference of opinion as to a proposed land-grant railway from Dalby to Normanton. In 1878 Mr (afterwards Sir) James Francis Garrick first became a cabinet minister, joining the Douglas ministry as secretary for public works and mines.
Active Politics, 1879–1890.—On 21st January 1879 the first McIlwraith administration came into power, and an important extension of local government was one of the early measures passed, divisional boards being formed to take charge of public works in districts not included in municipalities. In the following session, 1880, the Opposition, led by Mr Griffith, bitterly opposed the Government proposals on Kanaka labour, land-grant railways, and a European mail service via Torres Straits. The Government, however, concluded an agreement with the British India Steam Navigation Company for a monthly mail service between Brisbane and London for an annual subsidy of £55,000. The Railway Companies Preliminary Act, giving the governor in council power to treat with persons willing to construct railways in return for grants of 8000 acres of land for each mile of rails laid, was also passed. This measure was generally unpopular, and no railways were built under its provisions. During the session Mr Griffith impeached the premier in connexion with contracts for the purchase of 15,000 tons of steel railway metals, and their carriage to the colony, made in London whilst McIlwraith was there in January 1880. A select committee in the colony, and afterwards a Royal Commission in London, subsequently reported in the premier’s favour. The discovery of the celebrated Mount Morgan gold mine, and the initiation of artesian well-boring by R. L. Jack, Government geologist, took place in 1881. In 1883 a great drought prevailed, and the compulsory stoppage of public works demoralized the labour market. Early in the year information reached the colony that Germany proposed to annex a portion of New Guinea, which, together with other islands in the Papuan Gulf, was becoming of great strategic value to Australia; and the premier, fearing that it would thus be lost to the empire, instructed Mr H. M. Chester, police magistrate at Thursday Island, to proceed to Port Moresby and take possession of the unappropriated portion of the island in the name of the crown. This act was afterwards—to the indignation of Australia—repudiated by Lord Derby; and, eventually, under the Berlin Treaty of 1886, England and Germany entered into joint possession of that part of New Guinea lying east of 141° E. In July Sir Thomas McIlwraith (created K.C.M.G. in 1882) was defeated by 27 votes to 16 on a proposal to arrange for the construction of a land-grant railway from Charleville to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The general elections which followed were fought mainly on the questions of coloured labour for the sugar plantations and land-grant railways. The Government was defeated, and Griffith formed his first administration. Later in the year the premier drafted the Federal Council Act at Sydney, and through his efforts Queensland eventually joined the Federal Council of Australasia. In 1884 a ten-million Loan Act was passed, intended to secure continuity in borrowing for railway construction, but many of the lines specified were unsurveyed. According to the view now generally held in Queensland, this loan seriously hampered the, colony in after years. In 1887 the number of seats in the Assembly was increased to 72 (the present number), and several reforms were effected in the public service, notably the establishment of the department of agriculture. At the general elections in 1888 Sir Thomas McIlwraith was returned for North Brisbane, defeating Sir Samuel Griffith (who had been created K.C.M.G. in 1886) by a large majority, and resumed office as premier and leader of the “National Party.” Ill-health, however, soon compelled him to leave the colony, and he was succeeded by Boyd Dunlop Morehead. Sir Thomas McIlwraith’s inflexible nature was evidenced all through his public life. On the death of Sir Anthony Musgrave in Brisbane in 1888, he maintained that the Government should be consulted as to the appointment of the new governor. Lord Knutsford declined to accept this view, and appointed Sir Henry Blake. The premier formally protested, and a deadlock ensued, which was only removed by the resignation of the governor-designate. In 1889 payment of members at the rate of £300 a year, plus 1s. 6d. per mile travelling expenses, was established. In 1890 a financial crisis arose. Sir Thomas McIlwraith had returned to the colony and dissociated himself from the ministry. He conferred on the situation with Sir Samuel Griffith, and a want-of-confidence motion was nearly carried. Morehead resigned, and a coalition ministry, with Griffith as premier, chief secretary and attorney-general, and McIlwraith as treasurer, was formed. An agitation for the separation of Queensland into two or three separate colonies—mentioned as early as 1866—was very marked during this ​ period. It took formidable shape at Townsville in 1882, the chief argument in its favour being that the north and central districts did not get a fair share of the public expenditure. Delegates were sent to London on several occasions to interview the Colonial Secretary, but success did not attend these direct appeals. Sir Samuel Griffith’s Decentralization Bill of 1890, which proposed to erect separate legislatures in the three divisions with powers of local government, was a blow to separationists, and the agitation gradually disappeared.
The Labour Party in Politics, 1890–1900.—The decade from 1890 to 1900 was chiefly notable, apart from the accomplishment of Federation, for the rise of the Labour party as a power in politics and the gradual disappearance of the squatter as a dominant factor. In 1890 the old opponents, Sir Samuel Griffith and Sir Thomas McIlwraith, were still working side by side. The revenue for the year fell short of the estimates by half a million sterling, and a heavy accumulated deficit had to be grappled with by Parliament. Sir Thomas McIlwraith, the treasurer, proposed a dividend tax and other imposts, which were agreed to, and a Treasury Bills Act authorizing an issue of £500,000 was also passed. A Constitution Act establishing triennial Parliaments, in place of quinquennial, which had hitherto existed, also went through. In August the great maritime strike spread to Brisbane, and crippled trade and commerce for several months. In 1891 a loan for £2,500,000, which was issued in London under the auspices of the Bank of England, failed. Sir Thomas McIlwraith reflected strongly in Parliament on the conduct of the Bank of England, and the governor of the bank wrote to Sir James Garrick, the agent-general, protesting against Sir Thomas McIlwraith’s statements, and breaking off relations with the colony; but mutual explanations afterwards healed the breach.
Litigation was initiated by the London board of the Queensland Investment and Land Mortgage Company against the Queensland directors, on the ground that they had made advances without taking adequate security. The case was tried by the chief justice, Sir Charles Lilley, in 1891 and 1892, the defendants being Sir Thomas McIlwraith, Sir Arthur Palmer, then president of the Legislative Council, and Messrs F. H. Hart and E. R. Drury. The judge submitted 143 questions to the jury, and though these were answered generally in favour of the defendants, judgment was entered largely for the plaintiffs. On appeal, heard before a specially constituted court, presided over by the late Sir William Windeyer of New South Wales, this judgment was reversed, with costs. Lack of employment and a disastrous strike of bush workers paralysed the colony in this year. The strike began in January at Logan Downs station, where 200 shearers refused to sign the Pastoralists’ Convention agreement. This strike was remarkable for the determined and aggressive attitude of the men, and the firm, though conciliatory, manner in which it was handled by Mr (afterwards Sir) Horace Tozer, the colonial secretary, who had to provide military forces and artillery to hold the strikers in check. The trouble lasted many months; and after it was over a farcically planned plot to seize the central district and proclaim a republic was revealed in the Brisbane Courier. As an outcome of this strike, “New Australia”—a settlement on communistic lines—was founded in Paraguay (q.v.). The year 1892 was one of gloom and depression: want of money interfered with public works, and the impending stoppage of Kanaka labour and the low price of sugar almost ruined the planters. Sir Samuel Griffith then announced his conversion to the policy of continuing Kanaka labour for the sugar plantations, and also of land-grant railways. An act was passed authorizing agreements with companies for the extension of the trunk lines on this principle; but the measure was unpopular, and no transactions under the act are recorded. Financial depression reached its height in 1893: the salaries of ministers and civil servants were reduced, and drastic retrenchments were made in every department. In February, 107 in. of rain fell at the head of the Brisbane river, and enormous losses were caused by the resulting floods; several vessels, including the Queensland Government gunboat Paluma, were washed into the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, and left high and dry when the waters subsided. A second flood followed and caused further losses. Rockhampton, Bowen, Townsville, and other places also suffered severely from floods. On 13th March Sir Samuel Griffith was gazetted chief justice, and on the 27th Mr (afterwards Sir) Hugh M. Nelson became premier and treasurer, and Sir Thomas McIlwraith chief secretary and secretary for railways. Parliament was dissolved on 3rd April, and after the general elections the ministry returned with 38 supporters, against Labour, 16, and Opposition and' Independent, 18. During the month several financial institutions suspended payment, and on 15th May the Queensland National Bank closed its doors. Parliament was hurriedly summoned to deal with the financial crisis and the question of the Government funds held by the Queensland National Bank. Treasury notes, issued against coin held by the treasurer, were made legal tender throughout the colony; an issue of £1,000,000 treasury bills to retire the treasury notes was authorized, and a series of acts dealing with the suspended banks were passed. To assist the unemployed, labour and co-operative communities were started, but proved failures. An impetus was given to the sugar industry by the Sugar Works Guarantee Act, which authorized the treasurer to guarantee debentures issued by companies for the erection of sugar mills and plant. In 1894 little legislation was achieved, the policy of the Government being directed towards national rehabilitation. In 1895 Sir Thomas McIlwraith left the colony for London, where he died on 17th July 1900. At the general election of 1896 the Labour party slightly improved its position. In that year a committee of investigation reported a heavy deficit in the affairs of the Queensland National Bank, and made certain recommendations. In 1897 the bank was reconstructed a second time upon terms very favourable to the institution. An act was passed granting powers to a company to construct a railway from the rich mining district of Chillagoe to the terminus of the Cairns railway at Mareeba; at the end of fifty years the State was to have the right to acquire the line. In April 1898 the Queensland-born statesman, T. J. Byrnes, whose early death in the following September was lamented throughout Australia, succeeded Sir Hugh Nelson as premier. On 24th October the trial of the three ex-directors of the Queensland National Bank, Messrs F. H. Hart, B. D. Morehead and A. B. Webster, was commenced. The prosecution was instituted by the Government, on the advice of three barristers to whom the report of the committee of investigation into the affairs of the bank, which sat in 1897, was submitted. After a trial lasting 12 days, a verdict of “Not guilty” was returned. Proposals for the acquisition of 250,000 acres of land in New Guinea, made by a syndicate of London capitalists, were provisionally agreed to, but were eventually rejected, owing to a popular outcry raised, in the colony and in New South Wales and Victoria. In 1896 the first of a series of factory acts was passed, and in 1907 Wages Boards were established for fixing the statutory minimum rate of wages. (See Australia.)
Federation was a burning question in the neighbouring colonies during the year, but Queenslanders generally took little' interest in the movement, and the colony was not represented at the Federal Convention at Melbourne when the Commonwealth Bill was passed. In 1899 Mr (afterwards Sir J. R.) Dickson, who had succeeded Byrnes as premier, was enlisted on the side of the “Billites,” and in June of that year an Enabling Bill was passed. In September the Referendum supported the act by the narrow majority of 7492 votes on a poll of 69,484. Towards the end of the second session the ministry narrowly escaped defeat. on the Railway Standing Committees Bill, and resigned. Mr Dawson, leader of the Labour Opposition, then formed a ministry, and held office from 1st December to 7th December 1899. He was then defeated on a motion by R. Philp, and resigned, and Philp ​became premier, and was in power when Queensland joined the Commonwealth. The year was shadowed by the continuance of a terrible drought, which towards the end of 1900 became so aggravated that the revenue began to fall off, owing to decreased receipts from railways and land. In that year Philp’s chief policy was the passing of legislation to permit of the construction of railways by private enterprise. The Labour party offered vigorous opposition; but notwithstanding this a certain amount of progress was made. The Government appointed Dr Maxwell, an American sugar expert, to superintend the sugar industry in the colony; a State school of mines was established at Charters Towers; and the compulsory clauses of the Education Act were put in force for the first time. Another act of importance was the establishment of a Government land bank. A powerful agitation for the extension or renewal of the leases of pastoral lands was raised, but no legislation resulted. A suggestion that Sir Samuel Griffith should retire from the chief justiceship, on a pension of £1750 a year (to be reduced by any emoluments received), to enable him to enter Federal politics, fell through. Some important discoveries of coal were made during the year, and dredging the northern rivers for gold became an established industry. J. R. Dickson represented the colony in London at the conference of Federal delegates in 1900, when the final details of the Commonwealth were settled. Early in 1901 he was created K.C.M.G., but died somewhat suddenly, at Sydney, on 9th January of that year, shortly after he had been made a member of the first Federal ministry.
Alien Immigration.—The working classes of Queensland have always objected to the presence of coloured aliens, and successive Governments have legislated against indiscriminate immigration into the colony. In 1876 Governor Cairns reserved an act imposing certain disabilities upon Chinese working on goldfields. In that year a poll tax of £10 was imposed upon Chinese arriving. In 1884 another principle was adopted: masters of ships were only allowed to carry to Queensland ports one Chinese for every 50 registered tons, and the poll tax was increased to £30. In 1888 Queensland took the lead in summoning an intercolonial conference on Chinese immigration, the outcome of which was the adoption of uniform legislation: in the Queensland Act passed that year the main provision was that only one Chinese for every 500 registered tons should be permitted to be carried to the colony from Chinese ports. The poll tax was then abolished. This act was also reserved, but received the Royal Assent on 5th February 1890, after slight modification had been made.
Treaty arrangements with Japan had been carried through by the Imperial Government, at the initiation of Queensland, under which the Japanese Government undertook to prevent the emigration of coolies to the colony; and a Pearl Shell Fisheries Act was passed in 1895 placing restrictions upon the acquisition of vested interests in the industry by Japanese and other aliens. At Federation eight acts—two Imperial and six local—regulated the importation of Kanakas from the South Seas: that of 1880 was the basis of the system under which Kanakas were recruited in the islands, brought to the colony in schooners, employed there, and returned to their homes at the end of their three years’ engagements. The 1884 act confined Kanakas to field work. In December 1884 a Royal Commission was appointed, consisting of Messrs W. Kinnaird Rose, J. F. Buckland, and Hugh M. Milman, to report upon the system of recruiting Kanakas. Following the report of the Commission, which was in effect that many islanders had been recruited “by force and fraud,” Sir Samuel Griffith, then premier, introduced the important Pacific Island Labourers Amendment Act of 1885, which stopped the importation of Kanakas after 1890. It was—and is—an article of faith with the working classes that white labour could be utilized for sugar cultivation. Yet from the passing of the act the sugar industry began to decay, no fresh capital was put into it, plantations dwindled down in value 50 to 75%, mills were closed, and the magnificent industry threatened to die out. Sir Samuel Griffith, being converted by these signs of the times from his position that sugar could flourish in the colony without coloured labour, issued on 12th February 1892 his “Manifesto to the People of Queensland,” in which he acknowledged that to prevent the collapse of sugar-growing it was necessary to resume the immigration of Polynesians. This manifesto was the forerunner of the 1892 act, which reintroduced Kanaka labour. Since this time there has been no further State legislation on the subject, but the Federal Parliament has dealt with the matter (see above).
Land Legislation.—In Queensland's early days, with the predominance of the squatting class, the lands were freely leased in large blocks for sheep and cattle grazing. The squatter furnished 50% of the public revenue with his rents, and opened up the great interior by his pioneering enterprise. As, however, population increased, the necessity for the agriculturist arose, and it became requisite to legislate in the interests of the small holder. Successive Queensland Governments have had some of their hardest work in adapting their land legislation to the needs of the community, recent policy being to reduce large estates and place the cultivator on the soil. At separation from New South Wales the holding of land was regulated by Orders in Council, under an Imperial act of 1846: untransferable leases of “runs” for fourteen years were issued, the minimum size of the run was measured in sheep-carrying capacity—4000 sheep being the least number, and £10 the minimum rent. The lessee was able to buy up his holding in blocks of 160 acres at a time, £1 per acre being the minimum price, and was entitled to a renewal of his lease at its expiry. The minimum lease principle shut out the small agriculturist. The first leading acts passed by Queensland were the Crown Lands Alienation Act of 1868, dealing with the settled districts, and the Pastoral Leases Act of 1869, dealing with the unsettled districts—these divisions were fixed by the first-named measure. The “resumption” principle was introduced by the 1868 act: lands in the settled districts were resumed after twelve months from the passing of the measure, and lessees were granted leases of half of their holdings for ten years; the other moiety was thrown open for settlement. The 1869 act granted new leases for twenty-one years at practically the same low rentals, but 10% was added to the rent after each period of seven years; the area of a run was fixed at from 25 to 100 sq. m. This act greatly pleased the squatters. In 1884 the Dutton Act was passed. Its importance lies in its dealings with the 1869 act leases: on their expiry the State resumed from one-quarter to one-half of the area as crown lands, which were thrown open to selectors, and new leases of from ten to fifteen ears were granted for the balance. Grazing farms (20,000 acres), and agricultural farms (1280 acres) were established. This measure was very unpopular with the squatters. With the act of 1897 it forms the basis of the existing land regulations of Queensland. Under the 1897 act the passing of the land into the hands of agriculturists was further marked by the creation of agricultural homesteads (160, 320, or 640 acres), grazing homesteads (20,000 acres), scrub selections (10,000 acres), and unconditional selections (1280 acres). Some of these classes of selections could be purchased right out, and all were leased at extremely moderate rates. Sales of country lands were established. Two measures were passed, in 1894 and 1897—the Agricultural Lands Purchases Acts—under which the State was authorized to purchase suitable estates of specially fertile land already alienated, to be cut up and thrown open as agricultural farms. These measures confirmed Queensland’s determination to encourage agriculture. Owing to the expiration of pastoral leases and the fact that no legislation existed for their renewal for a term long enough to encourage the investment of capital, a formidable agitation prevailed in the colony, the lessees bitterly complaining of the uncertainty of their tenure. The British Australasian Society was formed in Great Britain, to protect the interests of British capital invested in the pastoral industry in Queensland. In 1900, out of the total Queensland area of 427,838,080 acres, no less than 411,793,786 acres remained in the hands of the State unalienated.  (J. T. Cr.)