The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1901-04-25
PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA.
THEIR ENVIRONMENT HAS MADE
THEM BROAD-MINDEO.
Their Isolation Makes Them Hospitable-H
Has Outgrown Observation-Disclosures
Above Mere MoneY.Making Have Been
Generated Desire to Be World Factors

1dS OuIPTOHn SpIeSSlCH NSpH dAiN"S
Above Mere MoneY-Making Have Been
Generated Desire to Be World Factors
Strong from the outdoor life they
lead and from contention with the
difficult conditions that have confront
ed them, the Australians as a people
have become tall and straight like
their gum trees, broad-shouldered,
deep-chested and why. They are clear
of eyes and skin, of remarkable sound
ness and whiteness in their teeth, OF
luxuriant, fine-textured hair Bertillon
says: When you see these character
istics generally marked you may know
you are in the presence of a great
people,
Magnificent distances stand before
them wherever they travel within their
own country, and the long travel de-
velops endurance and calm power
against adversities, as well as the gift
to laugh at the smaller difficulties and
embarrassments of everyday life. The
E40,000,G00 worth of products which
the country exports annually to Eng
land comes chiefly from the vast in
terror, and there hundreds and hun
dreds of men dwell in stations sepaTat-
ed by days of journeying.
There, in lonely isolation among mil
lions of gum trees, they tend fiocks of
sheep numbering upwards to 200, 900
per flock. There among the far
stretching hills and mountains they
round up ranges bearing Is, 600 to co.
600 head of cattle And the life that
these men lead leaves its impress upon
the nation.
Men who dwell in the interior of
Australia are ever in the presence of
valleys, plains and gorges stretching
in all directions, with mountains push
ing upon mountains till, in the hazy
distance, they are lost in the skyline
no mans land, desolate, untenanted;
theirs if they want it, only most Of
them already have more than they
know what to do with. The immens-
ity, the colossal expansion presided
over by an almost awe-inspiring still
ness, become either maddening or sub
lime, according to the temperament.
Curiously enough, it is usually the sub
Unity that prevails.
Another effect, and one which plays
equally strong in shaping the qualities
of the nation has arisen from contact
with the wilderness. The Australians
that lived in great solitudes could not
afford to be exclusive. They felt out
for a hand. Their hospitality was
eager. The bush was open house. Thus
his environment forced away inherited
exclusiveness and the Australian be-
came a different man from the Briton
broader, franker and more unselfish.
He has outgrown repression and the
sense of superiority He has had
enough experience to give him whole
some sense of humor. He has worked
hard enough to appreciate relaxation.
He has borne into the new land the
liking of his home country for sport,
but he has followed it on a broader
scale He has his horse races, as in
England; but he has his kangaroo
hunts, which make the hare hunting
of England seem like schoolboy's play.
Life to the Australian is as his
continent. There have been times
when both life and the continent were
hard to hold, but the probation period
is passed Australia for Australians
has become an unchanging impulse of
all the people. The inhabitants have
come to realize that the power to grow,
to spread their influence beyond the
country's bOrders-in other words, to
assume natiOnality-is now theirs.
aspirations above mere money
making have been generated. Aus
tralians feel the desire to rub against
the people of other countries, and to
test the gifts and requirements of
their long struggle in the redemption
of the continent. In other words, po-
litical ambition has arisen. The fed
Grafton is the means chosen to- realize
that ambition.
THE people of Australia love the
home government and presumably
never will separate from it; but they
have become sufficiently important to
possess the autonomy and the practi-
cal participation in governing which
belong to a state that is an integral
part of any central government. Prior
to the federation, their governors
were appointed in Downing street.
Their legislators had no personal voice
in Parliament. They themselves had
no equality or intercourse with the
great political centers of the world.
All these developing responsibilities
were cut off from them-responsibili
ties which, above all other things, are
needed to awaken into action the high
est intellect and the strongest judg
ment of people. The Australians
aspired to become a factor in the de-
cision OF world problems. &C. Sheri-
dan Dowell in Ainslee's.
Sir Walter Scott's Estate to [ ct