George Collins Levey

“ The want of progress in agriculture was not to be ascribed to defects of climate or soil, but chiefly to the great distance of Australia from the markets of the world. This difficulty has, for the most part, been removed by the establishment of numerous important lines of steamers trading between Australia and Europe, and recent years have therefore seen considerable expansion in all forms of agriculture.
In 1882 the area of land under cultivation was 733,582 acres, which is slightly less than 1 acre per inhabitant. ”

“ The highlands of eastern Australia form the middle belt of the state, to the east of which are the low coastal districts and to the west the wide western plains. The highlands of New South Wales consist, geographically, of a series of tablelands, now in the condition of dissected peneplains; geologically, they are built of a foundation of Archean and folded Lower Palaeozoic rocks, covered in places by sheets of more horizontal Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks; these deposits occur along the edge of the highlands, and are widely distributed on the floor of the coastal districts. ”

“ The United Kingdom, British India, Canada, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Cape Colony and some of the British crown colonies occupied nearly one-third of the space set aside for nations outside France. Germany was the only great country which was not represented, but there were a few German paintings. The display of fine arts and machinery was upon a very large and comprehensive scale, and the Avenue des Nations, a street 2400 ft. ”

“ Sir James resigned in June 1871, and was appointed agent-general for Victoria in London. He held that appointment till 1873, was created K.C.M.G. in 1874, returned to the colony the same year, and in 1875 formed his fourth and last ministry, which kept power till May 1877, when his party was defeated at the general election. During his eighteen months of office he had to encounter a persistent opposition from Berry and his followers, who systematically obstructed the business of the Assembly, on the ground that the acting-governor, Sir William Stawell, had improperly refused a dissolution. ”

“ Wool is the staple export, and represents, in most years, one-third the value of the exports. Gold coin and bullion form one of the principal items in the export list, but only a small portion of the export is of local production, the balance being Queensland and New Zealand gold sent to Sydney for coinage. ”

“ A World’s Industrial Fair was held at New Orleans in 1884–1885, and there were universal Exhibitions at Montenegro and Antwerp in 1885, at Edinburgh in 1886, Liverpool, Adelaide, Newcastle and Manchester in 1887, and at Glasgow, Barcelona and Brussels in 1888. Melbourne held an International Exhibition in 1888–1889 to celebrate the Centenary of Australia. Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria and the United States were officially represented, and an expenditure of £237,784 was incurred by the local government. ”

“ He had to establish a police force, frame regulations for the government of the goldfields, appoint magistrates and officials of every grade, and protect life and property against the attacks of the hordes of adventurers, many of desperate character, who landed in Victoria, first from the neighbouring colonies, and later from Europe and America. It was very much owing to the firm administration of Mr Stawell that, at a time when the government was weak and a. large section of the newcomers impatient of control, lynch law was never resorted to. ”

“ The most important mineral in New South Wales is coal, of which the state has probably a larger available supply than any other country in the southern hemisphere. The coal-fields occupy 24,000 sq. m. The coal is present in such vast amount as to offer the possibility of very economical working of the abundant iron ores of Australia. Kerosene shale occurs in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney, in the Upper Carboniferous rocks. Gold is widely distributed through the highlands. ”

“ None of the International Exhibitions held between 1857 and 1873 had attracted as many as 7,000,000 visitors, but the gradual extension of education amongst the masses, and the greater facilities for locomotion, brought about by the growth of the railway system in all portions of the civilized world, largely increased the attendances at subsequent World’s Fairs. The Centennial Exhibition of 1876, to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of American Independence, was held at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. ”

“ M‘CULLOCH, SIR JAMES (1819–1893) , Australian statesman, was born in Glasgow. He entered the house of Dennistoun Brothers, became a partner, and went to Melbourne to open a branch. In 1854, shortly after his arrival in Victoria, he was appointed a nominee member of the Legislative Council, and in the first Legislative Assembly under the new constitution was returned for the electorate of the Wimmera. ”

“ The visit of the Australian premiers to England on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee gave an additional impetus to federation, and in September 1897 the convention reassembled in Sydney and discussed the modifications in the constitution which had been suggested in the local parliaments. In January 1898 the bill was finally agreed to and submitted to a popular referendum of the inhabitants of each colony. Those of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania agreed to the measure; but the majority in New South Wales, 5458, was not sufficient to carry the bill. ”

“ Scattered about the grounds, in addition to those in the Trocadero, were the buildings of San Marino, Morocco, Ecuador and Korea. Nearly every civilized country in the world was represented at the exhibition, the most conspicuous absentees being Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and some other South and Central American Republics, and a number of the British colonies. ”

“ Before the arrival of Macquarie schools and churches had been erected, a newspaper, the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, had been started, and attempts had been made to acclimatize the drama.Captain Macquarie’s governorship. But he was the first governor to open up the country. He constructed permanent buildings at Sydney and Parramatta, formed roads and built bridges in the districts along the coast, and commenced a track across the Blue Mountains, which had been crossed in 1813 by Wentworth and others, thus opening up the rich interior to the inhabitants of Sydney. ”

“ Instead of international juries, a single judge was appointed for each class, and the recompenses were all of one grade, a bronze medal and a diploma, on which was stated the reasons which induced the judge to make his decision. ”

“ A long and bitter struggle between the two Chambers ended in another general election in 1868, which still further increased the ministerial majority; but Lord Canterbury, in obedience to instructions from the colonial office, declined to do anything to facilitate the passage of the Darling grant. ”

“ The government of the Netherlands was to a certain extent responsible for the administration of the exhibition, but the funds were obtained from private sources, and a charge was made to each nation represented for the space it occupied. The United Kingdom, India, Victoria and New South Wales took part in the exhibition, but there was no official representation of the mother country. ”

“ The copper lodes of New South Wales contain ores of a much higher grade than those of many well-known mines worked at a profit in other parts of the world, and, with a fair price for copper, the production largely increases. Iron is widely diffused, principally in the form of magnetite, brown haematite, limonite and bog iron. Coal mining is carried on in three districts. In the northern or Hunter river district there were 63 collieries, employing 10,500 men, and the quantity of coal raised was in 1904 about 4,100,000 tons ”

“ Special buildings had been erected by the British colonies and by British India. Canada, West Australia and Mauritius occupied the former, India and Ceylon the latter. For the first time since the war of 1870 Germany took part in a French International Exhibition, and the exhibits showed the great industrial progress which had been made since the foundation of the empire in 1870. The United States made a fine display, and fairly divided the honours with Germany. ”

“ There were 76,000 occupiers of rural holdings in 1905, and the area occupied by them, exclusive of lands leased from the state, is 48,081,000 acres. The great majority, 80% in 1905, of occupiers are freeholders; the practice of renting farm lands is not followed to any considerable extent, except in the dairying lands on the coast district. New South Wales took up its position amongst wheat-exporting countries in 1900; the bulk of the grain exported goes to the United Kingdom. Hay crops and maize rank next in importance to wheat. ”

“ The foreign countries represented were Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçoa, Denmark, Danish West Indies, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hayti, Japan, Johore, Korea, Liberia, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Orange Free State, Paraguay, Persia, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and Colonies, Uruguay and Venezuela. ”

“ Vote by ballot was introduced; the number of members in the assembly was increased to 80, and the franchise was granted to every adult male after six months’ residence in any electoral area. Meanwhile the material progress, of the colony was unchecked. A census taken at the end of 1857 showed that the population of Sydney was, including the suburbs, 81,327. Telegraphic communication was established between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Tasmania in 1859; and during the same year the Moreton Bay district was separated from New South Wales and was constituted the colony of Queensland. ”

“ In the report of the jury the following remarkable sentence appeared:—“There is not an artist or inventor who, once obtaining thus a public recognition of his ability, has not found his reputation and his business largely increased.” The third Paris Exhibition, held in 1802, was the first to publish an official catalogue. There were 540 exhibitors, including J. E. Montgolfier, the first aëronaut, and J. M. Jacquard, the inventor of the loom which bears his name. The fourth exhibition was held in 1806 in the esplanade in front of the Hôtel des Invalides, and attracted 1422 exhibitors. ”

“ The rocks of the Devonian system rest unconformably upon the Silurian; but some beds of which the age is still uncertain are called Devono-Silurian. The Devonian beds are well developed in the Blue Mountains, where the lower Devonian sediments at Mount Lambie are estimated to be 10,000 ft. in thickness. They are extensively developed along the Cox river and along the slopes of Mount Canoblas. They are also developed in the New South Wales highlands, to the south-east of Goulburn. ”

“ But although the free settlers prospered, and were enabled to purchase land on very easy terms, they were dissatisfied with the administration of justice, which was in the hands of a judge-advocate assisted by military officers, and with the absence of a free press and representative institutions. ”

“ The cultivation of fruit is receiving increased attention, but the growing of sugar cane and tobacco and the production of wine, until recently so promising, are, if not declining, at least stationary, in spite of the suitability of the soil of many districts for these crops. ”

“ Artesian water is also obtainable in other than Cretaceous rocks. This is shown by palaeontological evidence; and some of the most successful bores, such as those at Coonamble, Moree, Gil Gil and Euroka, have pierced rocks of Triassic age, corresponding with the Ipswich Coal Measures.
Population.—The population on the 1st of July 1906 was 1,504,700, viz. 799,260 males and 705,440 females. The total includes 105,000 Chinese and 7500 aborigines and half-castes. Since 1860 New South Wales had added more largely to its population than any of the other Australian states. ”

“ In 1851, when separate autonomy was granted to Victoria, New South Wales had a population of 187,243, the annual imports were £2,078,338, the exports £2,399,580, the revenue was £S75,794, and the colony contained 132,437 horses, 1,738,965 cattle and 13,059,324 sheep. ”

“ Mining.—The mining industry has made great strides. In 1905 there were about 38,000 men engaged in the various mines, besides 3300 employed in smelting. Of these, 10,700 were employed in gold-mining; in coal-mining there were 14,100; silver, 7100; tin, 2750, and copper, 1850. The value of mining machinery may be approximately set down at £2,900,000. The following summary shows the value of the various minerals won in 1905. It is impossible to separate the values of silver and lead contained in the ore obtained at Broken Hill ”

“ In the western division, or great plains, severe heat is experienced throughout the summer, and on occasional days the thermometer in the shade ranges above 100° Fahrenheit, but it is a dry heat and more easily borne than a much less degree of temperature at the sea-board. The mean summer temperature ranges between 75° at Deniliquin in the south and 84° at Bourke. ”

“ Those on the right bank all come from Queensland and bring down enormous volumes of water in flood time; on the left bank the most important tributaries are the Gwydir, Namoi, Castlereagh, Bogan and Macquarie. ”

“ Women are entitled to the franchise: there are the usual restrictions in regard to the pauper and criminal classes. An elector has only one vote, which is attached to the district in which he resides. ”