Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-07-20
Migffllanfous,
Australia as seen by a Californian.

Australia as seen by a Californian.
The following letter was written under date OF
January 10, 1868, from the Eureka Digglngs'
Australia, by Mr.. w. H. Cooper, late city Sur
vevor of Sonora, to friend in the latter place,
by whom it was fu rnished to the Sonora Herald
tits conclusive of the question to the rela-
tive merits of the two great gold fields OF the
world, and being written by an intelligent and
observing man, and withal practical MINER is
entitled to full consideration. No one who reads
it will CIV er think of leaving California for such
prospect as is here depicted. In fact, we learn
that hundreds who were in this city on their way
to Australia, have changed their minds since the
arrival of the passengers by the Jesse Byrne
having even forfeited their passage money already
paid, rather than go. They are wise:
"This country is low and fiat, and is great
deal worse watered than California. What wa
ter there is, is nearly all brackish. Sometimes
tits tinctured with sulphur and iron, but mostly
with salt. The flies are an intolerable nuisance,
and there is end to them in the mines. Many
persons have almost lost their sight on account
of their darting into their eyes. preserve my
eyes and face by continually wearing veil.
'.The laws of this country exceedingly OPP
pressive to the poor laborer, taxing him to death
all the time, and leaving him no chance TO ac-
cumulate wealth, by any regular course of indus
try. Hence his only hope is to strike what is
here termed sa.dollop,' or in language "a pile
in the dggings; and even then his license money,
and the percentage of getting it through to the
settlements and converting it into specie, eats up
a great deal ofhis godsend To get this 'dollop,'
in the first place, he stands only one fifth the
chance that he would in California; so you may
judge that it is all lottery. And yet there are
men who have made themselves Independent and
comfortable for life, by spending only few weeks
in these mines.
- "I am at present in the Victoria Diggings.--
The gold here lies in much heavier deposits than
in California; but these are fewer and farther be-
tween. My diggings are fifty feet in depth, while
i'm the vicinity, there places from seventy to
eighty feet deep, and even more. At the Ovens,
two hundred miles northeast from here, there are
new diggings, of a shallow character. 1 am
going to start for there in few days. and if I do
not make more than have been making, I shall
leave and return to California.
81 will give you the key to the excitement at
present going on in this country. Years age
many English noblemen and gentlemen came to
this colony, and located all the most desirable
lands and water privileges for farms, stations &c
Since then, they have been growing wool, and
rearing sheep, cattle, &c. They have, however
become crowded, and labor was little to high
for them. They therefore started great outcry
about the richness of the Australian gold fields;
which, was foreseen, has caused rush of i'm.
migration from aif points of the world They ar
rive, and find the minds to be complete lottery
and not having the means to sustain either
heightened prospect or to return home, thel
embrace the alternative to accept farm work, fo
little or no pay. The landed propritors thus Sc
care slaves for considerable time-perhaps fo
life. They are the class who are making th
most money, and far the most noise in the colo
ny. Furthermore, the country is filled up will
convicts-the offscourings of England-who art
the most lawless and worse thieves and vaga
bonds in the known world, California is, in com
parison, perfect paradise. might write page
on this subject, and then, like the Queen of She
ba, should not have told you the half.
''Take the advice of bosom friend, and do no
come here. Keep from under John Bulls domin
ion as long as you can. After paying all ex
penses, escort, per centage, &C., &C., you hav
no security either for life or money. hope tha
all my friends will remain at home, unless the,
bring with them the means to return when they
choose-that will be as soon as they find hov
things really are."