, 1888-02-25

On January rs, one hundred years ago,
six transports aud three StOreshipS, bear
ing the flag Of England, and with Captain
Phillip, r. N, for their commander, sailed
into Botany Bay, near the inlet now re-
n0wnpd all over the world AZ Sydney
Harbour, and sent q boats crew TO take
possession Of the land on each side of the
point of Decentralization, in the name Of the
King of England. Som" cOnce Dtion of the
magnitude of the area thus Su ldrnlv
annexed ty the British Crown anil people
may be formed from the fact that Aus
tralia and the adjacent islands are aOlut
twenty. six times the size ot Great Britain
and Ireland, fifteen times the Sizn OF
France, One.sixth smaller than the United
States. and Onr-fftlI smaller than the con
tinent of Europe. The AustralaSIan group,
in short, stan l. for nearly two tifthS OF the
whole Of the British d0mlnionS, and Is
blessed with IL climate described by those
most familiar With it AZ the 'ilrSC IN the
worId". The name Of Australia WAS given
to the island-c0ntinent Ivy Matthew Fun
dels, an adventurous English navigator,
born AT DOnlngtOu, in Lincolnshire III
1850, who sailed round it III 1902, and AFTER
whom Flinders Land-nOw called south
Australia-was originally named. A far
idea of this magnificent realm may be
gathered by regarding it az divided INTO
three sections-WeStern, Central, ami
Eastern. The Western part consists
entirely of West Australia the Central,
of South Australia and its Oiled Northern
Territory and the Eastern Of the three
colonies Of Queensland, New South Wales,
and Victoria. The proportion of the colo
MES to each other, remarks The ''AuStralIan
Handbook" and to the whole continent,
may be ascertained by dividing the latter
into 100 equal parts, of which Victoria
would comprise three, New South Wales
ten, Queensland twpnty.tnrer, Sout Aus
tralia thirty, and West Australia thirty
four. II will thus be seen az IL glance tllat
of the 2,944,62S square miles constituting
the suptrticies of the Australian malIltanl
cOnsid .ra bly, more than half are as yet
practically %uninhabited. Between them
South Australia aud Wet Australia cover
vastly more than half Of the entire terrific
ry, the estimated population OF the former
on June 80, 1897, being 3l3,330 souls,
exclusive of a~bOriglneS, ana OF the latter,
ON the same day, about $4,000. Two mil
lions of square miles are therefore occupied
by less than 350,O00 white inhabitants; ana
TO gauge the future which lies before these
two splendid colonies alone would puzzle
the most sanguine and audaciOus ct day
dreamers. The climate of both is said
to ba cone of the healthlcSt and most
enjoyable in the world" but ~ yet much OF
the interior is az unknown as that OF lands
designated in the crude aliases OF our
fOrefathers aS " terrB incognltte.'
1t is, however, OF the three Eastern colo
MES of this a%ntipOdean empire-0f Victoria,
New South Wales, and Queensland-that
we have now to speak. We have no space
to pause with Mr.. Howard Willoughby,
author of "AuStralian Pictures,' published
in 1886, over the varied features OF this
gigantic Sland-cOntinent, OF which IN 1886
the collective population was three millions.
All the capitals are Oh the SeabOard, and,
setting aside Perth, in Western Australia,
the traveller can already Proceed from one
to another by the magnificent vessels OF
the PeninSuIar and Oriental, the British
India Steamship, and the Orient Compa'
MES. Already, moreover, he is able to
land at Brisbane, in Queensland, or at
Adelaide, in South Australia, and to
journey from South to North, and UiCe
. ersd, by rail, as the iron chain is now
continuous. Within the brief limits at
our command it is impossible to speak in
detail of the seven sister colonies which
constitute this Greater Britain of til" South
Pacific. Indeed, a bulky volume might be
written about Victoria, another about New
South Wales, and n third about New
UooI,,l ,;tlaoA .v6 n,ntiur n tAnth INurf