The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-09

statue OF tho queen was unveiled there was q
grand FREQ sfeast for tho poor, horse races,
picnics, trade demonstrations, Examinations
arches and no end of mucic Among the
distinguished guests were the Grand Duke
Alexis of Russia and the Earl and Countess
of Carnarvon, while Lord Darlington, the
present viceroy of New South Wales, and
Lady Darlington, and the cardinal arch
bishop of Sydney, took active parts in the
celebration.
Australia remained until 100 years ago in
possession Of distinct race of aborigines,
found only in tho Australian and adjacent
islands. The natives are black, with vari
city OF shade from brown-black to jet Their
hair is curly, but is not the wool of tho
negro. They arc not muscular, but pos
sessed Of great endurance. Their dwellings
usually consist Of strip Of bark, or large
bough. to protect them from the wind In
tho wild districts they still 60 naked. 1t is
the Australian who is So expert in throwing
tho boomerang, an implement whose name
has been adopted into English to express acts
which rccol upon the perpetrator.
One hundred and seventeen years ago Capt.
James Cook landed on tho fat shore of Bot.
any bay, hoisted tho Union Jack, and pro-
claimed the whole island British territory
1t had been discovered in 1910. but was
thought to DO worthless desert of rock and
sand, inhabited By monsters and canpibals.
There was moro truth in this than in most
popular ideas Of distant lands, for the native
animals of Australia arc literally monsters"
in the anatomist or medical use of that term
that is, creatures with organs totally di-
verso from tho common, creatures capable of
surviving long droughts and forest fires; the
Australian devil" an amphibious animal,
with seven rows of teeth, because it could
burrow in the mud while the fire passed over;
the "dingo," or bush dog, because it could
find safety and moisture in tho green dells;
the kangaroo, because it could leap over the
line of blazing. grass with its young in its
pouch, ard q few other. creatures who sur
vive4 because they were the iittcst.
On the 25th of January, 17SS, Capt Phelip,
who had been sent out from England with |
transports bearing $50 convicts, under a
guard of 200 soldiers, arrived at Port Jackson
and landed at tho present site of Sydney. The |
convicts were told off into gangs and forced |
at tho point of the bayonet and under the |
lash to do tho work Of clearing Each man
worked with a ball and chain to his ankle, |
after the manner of the 'chain gangs" in |
vogue In America thirty or forty years ago. |
1t is said that in those days the Australian |
summer was so hot that when the dry winds |
came birds would fall to the ground dead.
What must have been tho sufferings of tho |
convict forced to work at telling trees and |
opening roads in this intense heat! Whatever
Of pain the climate failed to innict was sup
Piled by tho ''cat O nino tails"
The landing of these unfortunates was tho
birthday of New South Wales, and the pecu-
liar manner Of that colony's birth cast q
blight upon it for many years. There were
no women in tho colony, and many outragcs
wero perpetrated upon tho natives. The
English governor recommended that cargo
Of women Of tho lowest class b. sent out Five
hundred and twenty Of these creatures, refuse
from tho lowest quarters Of London, were
shipped to the now colony to become wives
FOR tho convicts. They were called ''red
rovers" Children wero born to them. The
third and fourth generation Of their descend