C. D. Mackellar

“ I can foresee a splendid future for Northern Australia—this island paradise in the Straits, and British New Guinea—it is far away, but it is to come one day. To me it is inexplicable how few people ever seem able to look beyond the present. The Barrier Reef and Torres Straits are mines of gold. ”

“ There are most beautiful trees, beautiful as to their high straight stems, and as to their crown of foliage blazing with pink or scarlet blossom. I can tell you nothing of what they are, as they are new to me, and no one here knows or cares. There are pandanus, banyan, and pawpaw trees. There are quantities of ferns, palms, and beautiful orchids. I wander about through all this quite happy, my dog as content as I am. I think Captain Thompson must have spoken to the dog ere he left, and bid it take care of me, as I find that he left messages for every one directing them to see after me. ”

“ There is such a glare from the sand and the heat is so great that one is forced to the hardship of a chair in the shady verandah where the breeze reaches one. I watch the Kanakas and other natives; there are even negroes in this menagerie, and to see all these at play in the evening is a real entertainment. They are very fond of a skipping-rope, and to see the fat women skipping with babies in their arms is simply killing. I nearly expire with laughter, and they are in the same state themselves, and often roll on the ground shrieking with laughter. ”

“ In the hotel is living a man who is terribly ill with the coast fever; came here, where there is none, to recruit, and has delirium tremens all the time the—wreck, the miserable wretch, is awful to see. All day and night he calls without ceasing on Mrs. M‘Nulty or Bridget for drink, and they are angels of goodness and patience with him, for he is a terrific nuisance. I have heard Mrs. M‘Nulty rise up in the night, go to him and reason with and chide him as if he were a child. ”

“ Can’t you live? Can’t you go and fight some one, or do something to amuse some one? You go on like a cranky Chinaman—I suppose the other diggers kicked you out from where you were; you must have bored them to death. Go and get an island of your own, where no one can see you, and be blanked to you! ”

“ She is adamant in refusing him more, so now he sometimes comes to me on the verandah, goes down on his knees praying, crying, and entreating that I will order a drink—whisky or brandy, of course—for myself and give it to him. My heart bleeds with pity for him, but of course I cannot do it, and Mrs. M‘Nulty is quite worried at the time I am having through this poor lost man. Every one is full of pity—but what can one do? They are so cunning, such people. He manages to get drink somewhere, somehow—no one can guess how. ”

“ A great future probably awaits Port Darwin in the Northern Territory, and all that Australian coast. The harbour is a fine one, which large ships may enter at any state of the tide. Palmerston, the town, has large Government buildings, and behind it lie great tracts of fine land. I wonder how many people realise that the Northern Territory of South Australia is equal in size to Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy combined, and that it contains 335,116,800 acres, and has but a very small population. Yet land is obtained on very easy terms. ”

“ Thirsty Island " in the boat, and we went first to his pearl-fishing station. This was a charming place, most picturesque, and lying at the bottom of a wooded hill; the numerous buildings, house, store, and men's quarters being painted white, so that they looked cool amidst the green cocoanut palms. All these stations consist of quite a settlement of white houses; and the groups of gaily dressed natives standing about, the white houses, green waving palms, yellow sand, and the turquoise blue of the sea in front, with the white-sailed boats lying at anchor, always form a quite perfect picture. ”

“ A shaft of sunlight just struck this spot and brought out all the colours of the snake’s skin, and it certainly made a wonderful effect. Up we went after it and were soon on top of the boulder, which gave us a few flat feet of stone to stand on. Directly beneath was a deep, clear pool of the stream. It was simply an ideal spot and stood out conspicuously amidst the luxuriant vegetation. The snake had got round the pin- nacled boulder which rose above us, its head one side, its tail the other. We were all at such close quarters that it was quite exciting. ”

“ We anchored out in the bay on account of danger from the blacks, and a sailor was left in the boat. All the others took off their nether garments, got into the sea up to their armpits, and waded ashore; but they would not hear of my doing likewise, and Mack, the sailor, insisted I should get on his back, and in this undignified way I was carried ashore, in fits of laughter, nearly strangling Mack, as wet as any one else in reality, but of course pretending I was not. I was in white linen clothes and hat, and these dried up in a few minutes in the broiling sun. ”

“ On the 21st August they discovered and named York Island, proclaiming the country New South Wales, and hoisting the flag for the king. Then they passed through what are now Endeavour Straits to the Prince of Wales Island, and on for days till they passed the islands of Rotti and Seman, viewing the Aurora Borealis, and found themselves at an island, Savu, where they must have been surprised to see houses, flocks of sheep, and palms, and from the ship beheld horsemen, one of whom wore a gold-laced cocked hat, and coat and waistcoat of the fashion of Europe. ”

“ Some day China will come to her own, and revenge on the Australians the shameful treatment they have always meted out to the Chinese, who have always been simply invaluable there in many ways and are most peaceable, harmless people. It is only the pampered European labourers who have been against them, and but for the Chinese no labour of any sort could have been undertaken in many parts of Australia at all. ”

“ The tame one at the hotel is different, and so absurdly tame that one is not surprised at its queerness, but that a wild one out in the scrub should behave in this queer, familiar, uncanny way does not seem natural. ”

“ A bar keeps large vessels from going to the wharf, and even the tender could only enter at high tide, so we steamed very slowly up the Ross Creek, and on arrival at the wharf a sailor carried my things to the Queen’s Hotel. The islands we had passed all the way up were beautiful, some very green and wooded with fir trees scattered about. The Whitsunday Group and Hook Island seemed desirable places. They are, however, just now useless for sheep, there being some plant that poisons them, so they are unoccupied save for some blacks. ”

“ When I emerged from my cabin I found it was blowing rather stiffly, and we were steaming close to the coast amidst picturesque rocky islands and islets. Captain M‘Lean was a pleasant, cheery, kind old man, but he and the passengers expressed the greatest wonder that I should be bound for Thursday Island, and evidently thought me “a freak” to want to go to such a place for pleasure.
We stopped at Flat Top Island about midday, it being only a small isle with a lighthouse. We arrived in Cleveland Bay and anchored off Townsville about 11 p.m. A steam tender took passengers and baggage ashore. ”

“ There are many Australian aborigines knocking about. The North Australian black is a much more intelligent and finer specimen than those of the south were—I have to say were, for they are no more. As from time immemorial the Malays from Macassar and elsewhere have visited Northern Australia in their phraus intent on pearl-fishing and trading for béche-de-mer, dugong, and other things, it is probable that the aborigines have benefited by an admixture of Malay blood, as well as Papuan. ”

“ The Chinese are certainly quaint people. As the City of Melbourne had to wait here for the arrival of the China mail-boat, Captain Thompson arranged on my behalf an expedition we had discussed. Some rare plants grew on the top of Mount Cook, and he and I were at one in a desire to secure a specimen for Baron von Mueller. He warned me that we might be in great danger from the natives, who were most troublesome—indeed, two days before this, two white men had been speared to death in sight of Cooktown—but I said I did not mind at all, and that we would risk it. ”

“ The Great Barrier Reef, which stretches along the coast for 1250 miles, is a wonderland in itself; and how much more marvellous it is when one remembers it is a coral reef and the work of little insects! It has an area of something like 80,000 square miles. Parts of it are within a few miles of the mainland coast, whilst other reefs lie as distant as 150 miles. From Torres Straits to Lady Elliot Island it is 1250 miles long. The islands, islets, rocks, and reefs form a sort of country of themselves ”

“ As he is seen approaching, others rush out to meet him. They strike attitudes of astonished admiration, walk all round him just like the cassowary does round me, discuss each article of his attire, he beaming with flattered pride and consciousness. ”

“ One day all these islands in the Straits are to be the Sanatoria of Northern Australia and New Guinea, as they are fever free and there is always a cool breeze blowing; are to be thickly populated, and the whole Straits of the greatest importance. But I am glad to see it as it is now. I have wandered all over this island exploring it, studying its interesting vegetation and its queer pinnacles of clay. These high structures which are so striking are ant-hills, and some are of very large size and height ”

“ My life has been a rich one these few days, and I enjoying every minute of it. Mrs. M'Nulty takes complete care of me, warns off those she deems undesirable, and tells me whom I am to know and whom not!
Sometimes when by myself in my chair on the verandah I laugh over it all, but I am sure I shall always have a warm place in my heart for this queer Thursday Island.
Mrs. M'Nulty brought in and introduced four men one night, a sort of deputation of the bachelors of the island. Two of them are in Burn Philp's store; another, Captain D——, is manager of a pearl-fishing station ”

“ Sometimes the animal retreating into its home leaves the tips of its coral cell white; but all these living corals are something very different from the dead, white-bleached things we see in our museums. ”

“ The town is not laid out with any regularity; the modern bungalows, surrounded by balconies and verandahs, and all built on piles, are just dotted down anywhere in the sand and inland from it, a good many being drinking shanties and billiard saloons. At the back rises a wooded hill. This hotel is quite roomy and comfortable, two-storied, and with broad verandah and balcony. It too is planted on the sand near the sea and pier. It is distinctly an Irish establishment. There is no doubt about the nationality of Mrs. M‘Nulty, and still less about that of Bridget, her handmaiden. ”

“ They came to tell me that they were going for a holiday cruise in a cutter to a lot of islands; that Captain B——, the pilot, is also going, he being here for a week as a guest of the bachelors of "Thirsty Island," as they call it, with reason, and they had come to invite me to go with them.
Mrs. M'Nulty, who stood behind them, nodded at me to say Yes, and I was delighted at the idea. Nothing could exceed their kindness, as they are eager for me to see everything and have a good time. ”

“ I found the hotel very clean, and the meals both good and abundant. There is never anything niggardly in Australia about such matters. With a population of 9000, Townsville seemed a pleasant, prosperous place. A granite hill and cliffs rise in the centre of the town, and are dotted over with picturesque ramshackle houses, palm trees, cacti, children all trying to break their necks down the banks, goats, empty bottles and tin cans—giving quite a careless, homely aspect to it all. Numbers of blacks were camped around; there were Chinese store-keepers ”

“ Had any one told me that I should, under any circumstances, seize a ten-foot-long snake by the tail I should have said “Impossible,” so great is my fear and repul- sion for these brutes. Even a dead one gives me cold shivers. Mack pushed me aside and, grasping its tail, hauled lustily, and in the excitement I forgot everything and pulled away too. ”

“ At Kwato is now a fine mission-house and a stone church, and on Samarai or Dinner Island in the beautiful China Straits are also, good buildings. But there has never been any settled policy pursued, and British New Guinea will never have any chance until it is removed from the Australian Commonwealth jurisdiction. The Government refused to give land to a syndicate which introduced tobacco, and opposed all tobacco plantations—why, no one can understand—whilst now German New Guinea tobacco and cigars can be had all over Germany. ”