Charles Griffith

“ When you think that you ought to be at the place of your destination, you find yourself suddenly, perhaps, on the edge of an impassable gulley or river, and there is nothing to inform you whether you ought to go to the right or left; and as it is impossible in a ride of ten or twelve miles through a forest, to be sure of steering by compass within less than half a mile of your point, you cannot tell whether you are too much to the north, or to the south, or to the east, or the west. ”

“ This fighting with fire is the most trying work in which a man can well be engaged, as it is most commonly during hot winds that the worst fires occur; the combined heat of the air and fire, together with the suffocating fumes of the smoke, form an atmosphere in which even the slightest exertion would be distressing, and as a man has to exert all his physical power for hours together under these unfavourable circumstances, and generally without being able to get a mouthful of water, some idea may be formed of the distressing nature of the service. ”

“ When a fire is to be put out, all the available force of the station is mustered, and the most desirable mode of proceeding having been decided on, (reference being had to the wind and other circumstances,) they spread themselves along the line of fire, each man armed with the branch of a tree; they then go on steadily, one after another, putting it out as they proceed, one man being left at a considerable distance behind to prevent its breaking out again—a circumstance very likely to occur in spite of every precaution. ”

“ I recollect what gave me the most definite notion of an Australian habitation was a print published as a frontispiece to a sixpenny blue paper pamphlet, which represented a young gentleman in a short fur jacket, eyeing intently a hut in the distance, where a number of cocks and hens, of colossal size, were disporting round the door, or perching on the roof. ”

“ I have seen one of the most powerfully-framed and strongest constitutioned men I ever knew, so completely overcome as to throw himself down on his face close to the fire, and lie there perfectly careless whether he was burned or not. ”

“ And if that man be pronounced a benefactor to his species who makes one blade of grass to grow where none grew before, surely he is entitled to at least equal praise, who becomes the pioneer for his fellow-man to regions of almost boundless fertility. ”

“ Most men have, besides, some acres of cultivation, and many have gardens, which are another source of employment and recreation. Books, however, form the great source of entertainment for many solitary hours of the settler; and it will perhaps astonish many to hear that a book club has been established in the neighbourhood of the Grange and Wannon, 200 miles west of Melbourne, where there are several married settlers, who thus obtain from England all the recent periodicals and interesting publications. ”

“ In this manner they proceed until the whole is extinguished, pausing where the grass and bushes are very thick, and making more vigorous efforts where circumstances are more favourable or where a shift of wind gives them an advantage. The most provoking circumstance is, that frequently the hot ashes from the burning trees are blown to a distance and ignite a fresh fire as bad as the first; and as these trees burn for days together, it is nearly impossible to guard against this.
When the fire is burning through a forest, the effect is exceedingly grand. ”

“ Still, with all these employments and these resources, there is many an hour which hangs heavily on the solitary occupant of the squatter's hut. In respect that it is solitary, it is a very vile life. However, most of the stations are jointly occupied by two partners who form society for each other, and there are many now on which married men are residing with their wives and families, who seem to live very happily. ”

“ There are always roads or tracks leading from each station towards Melbourne, Geelong, Portland, or Port Fairy, as the case may be, so that a stranger can generally make his way without a great deal of difficulty, as long as he keeps to the main tracks; but when it comes to travelling from one station to another across the country, it becomes more puzzling. Some people never succeed in becoming good bushmen ”

“ Thus he who paints in the school of nature produces portraits, the originals of which never die, and uses colours that will for ages continue fresh as when they flowed wet from the pallet of the artist. ”

“ It is a moot point amongst the settlers whether burning the country is of service or not, and I believe the result of experience is, that where land is fully stocked a better sod will be formed by having the grass eaten down than by burning it, but that where the grass becomes long and rank, it is of no use until burnt down as no animal will eat it, and practically it is only in such places that it is resorted to as a means of improving the herbage. ”

“ I have thus, by giving a detailed account of one individual hut, endeavoured to obtain something fixed to start from in varying the description, so as to make it more general. Some huts are better and many worse, than what I have described: it is rather under than over the usual size—the mode mentioned of dividing sitting-room and bed-room by a screen is almost universal. I only allude to bachelor's huts; where married people reside in the bush, there is of course much more accommodation. Slabs are the most common material for building. ”

“ Travellers or shepherds lighting fires (a very frequent circumstance,) the natives carrying about fire-sticks from place to place, their leaving their numerous fires burning when they abandon their encampment, as also settlers setting fire to part of their runs in order to bum off the old grass, are amongst these. The fire when first kindled may burn but slowly for a time, but when a high wind rises it rages with great fury and spreads with terrific rapidity ”

“ There are few persons in England who can have formed a notion of an Australian squatter's mode of existence at all, in accordance with the real state of facts. I have never met with a work on the country which even professes to supply this want ”

“ Lord John Russell, when secretary for the colonies, suggested, on the advice of Count Strelisky, that burning the grass should be put a stop to by legal enactment. Several strong arguments were used against this, but perhaps one was held to be sufficient, namely, that it was impossible to do so. The forests recover from the effects of these fires much sooner than could be expected, and all thick underwood is effectually cleared away by them.
When a settler leaves home, he generally travels on horseback. About forty miles is considered a moderate day's journey ”

“ The shepherds and hut-keepers boil the tea and sugar together, and when a man is heated and thirsty, a pint pot of this, piping hot and without milk, is a most refreshing drink. At many stations, wine is now used at dinner. ”

“ Some huts are roofed with the bark of the stringy bark, or with that of the box tree; many are thatched with a kind of wire grass, and a few are roofed with a kind of large shingle called broad paling. ”

“ Horses are very cheap, and at almost every station there are a few brood mares, and thus the settlers have a command of excellent horses at little or no expense, save that of the original outlay for the mares. ”

“ These are reflections which do not occur every hour, nor every day, nor to every mind; but they do exercise a more practical influence on the happiness of some men than many people are aware; and there is nothing which so powerfully chills the energies, or throws a damp over exertion, as the being unable to give a satisfactory answer to the question cui bono. ”

“ Damper is unleavened bread baked in ashes, and when well made is good enough. Many attempts bave been made to improve upon it, and in some instances with success. Very good bread is however made with barm at some stations, and at others with soda. At most stations in the bush, tea forms an accompaniment to every meal ”

“ This is the occurrence of bush fires. All parts of the country, but particularly those which are naturally rich, and where the grass is not sufficiently eaten down by stock, are exceedingly apt to catch fire in the summer-time, when the grass has become withered and dry. Some persons are of opinion that the ignition is spontaneous ”

“ Yet such has been the revolution of events; such too are the unchanging qualities of man, that there never will be wanting those who are unreasonable enough to complain of the absence of advantages, from their very nature incompatible with the mode of life they have adopted ”

“ The persons whom I have observed to make the best settlers, are either those men of good education and gentlemanlike habits and feelings, who from the cultivation of their minds, possess sources of entertainment and interest unknown to those who are without such advantages ”

“ The furnishing of these huts depends a good deal on the habits and taste of their occupiers, which of course vary very much, men of very different grades of society being comprehended in the class of squatters, which, in addition to those mentioned in a former chapter, contains several very excellent and respectable men sprung from the farmers and wealthy yeomanry of England, and besides these a nondescript class embracing considerable variety of character and respectability. ”

“ They are from first to last a hardy, enterprising, hard-working set of men. Or else, those men who, brought up from infancy in rural pursuits as farmers, find little change from what they have been accustomed to &om childhood, save that which is caused by difference of country and climate. ”

“ They are, however, chiefly confined to the neighbourhood of Melbourne and Geelong. ↑ The cooey is a call in universal use amongst the settlers, and has been borrowed from the natives. The performer dwells for about half a minute upon one note, and then raises his voice to the octave. It can be heard at a great distance. ”