Australian bush

“ Any man of discernment should be well content here to bide. The air about me is full of a nimble sweetness, and as utterly free from impurity as the air one breathes in mid-ocean. More, it is impregnated by the tonic perfumes of all the myriad aromatic growths that surround my cottage. Men say the Australian bush is singularly soulless; starkly devoid of the elements of interest and romance which so strongly endear to the hearts of those dwelling there the countryside in such Old World lands as the England of my birth. ”

“ In them every rank in bush life was represented, from cattle-drovers and stockmen to the owners of stations, from swag-men and men “down in their luck” to telegraph operators and heads of government departments, men of various nationalities with, foremost among them, the Scots, sons of that fighting race that has everywhere fought with and conquered the Australian bush. ”

“ In these parts of the bush the small hut of the humble out-settler may often be espied; and, while we speak of the toils and privations frequently undergone by this class of people at first, we must not forget that they are thus opening to themselves a way to future wealth and comfort. Nor, be it recollected, is the condition of an out-settler [Pg 33] in the Australian bush any more a fair average specimen of that of the inhabitants of the colonies than the owner of a mud-hovel raised on some English heath would be of the inhabitants of the parish in which he happens to dwell. ”

“ It may readily be imagined that bush travelling in the Australian colonies is often an intricate affair; long practice alone can give one assurance and confidence. Few habitues in the Peninsula think of entering it without a pocket compass, flint, and steel, and even the best bushmen have in their day been reduced to the greatest extremities. ”

“ The ranges are few in number, and are of no great elevation. But the grass plains and the scrub plains are immense. Gazing round from an eminence, the impression produced by the equal height of the vegetation, and the dull glaucous colour of the foliage, is that you are looking upon the open rolling illimitable ocean. South Australia contains whole principalities of the ordinary park-like bush of Australia; the eucalypts standing in grass without any undergrowth, either singly or in clumps, as though planted by a landscape gardener. ”

“ Coffee is not often used in the Australian bush, the greater convenience of tea having made it much more popular. Living in the bush is not luxurious, and on many stations the unvarying round of tea, damper, and beef or mutton soon becomes monotonous. These are the staples of food; vegetables of any kind are rarely seen ”

“ Growler, we’ve done dinner, and I’ll have a pipe before I make another start. Is Jacko in the kitchen? Send him through to me on to the veranda.”
Gangoil was decidedly in the bush—according to common Australian parlance, all sheep stations are in the bush, even though there should not be a tree or shrub within sight. They who live away from the towns live a “bush life.” Small towns, as they grow up, are called bush towns, as we talk of country towns. The “bush,” indeed, is the country generally. But the Heathcotes lived absolutely and actually in the bush. ”

“ The occurrence of nutrious grasses in the southern portion is confined chiefly to the soil which surrounds the outcropping granite rocks (which are also the areas of rock holes and soaks) , and also to the bases of greenstone hills and ranges.
The vegetation of saline depressions and salt-lake borders consists chiefly of dense pale-green and reddish-green salt bush scrubs, which seldom reach a height of more than three feet. Several species of the dreaded Western Australian poison plants (gastrolobium and oxylobium) occur on the high sand plains and in the surroundings of granite outcrops. ”

“ By clearing the forest he limits the area of the bush fire. He constructs reservoirs, dams rivers, sinks wells in order to bring subterranean water to the surface, and irrigates land, so that a spot where even the hardiest scrub failed to grow in its natural state, is covered with luxuriant crops. Province after province has been rescued from the wilderness already, and the grand work is likely to go on. Those who look at what has been done in the way of reclaiming territory in Australia will be in no hurry to set bounds as to what man is likely to perform. ”

“ Although one does not want to harshly criticise these obvious errors in the very rudiments of bush-craft, they serve to indicate how likely he would have been, if entrapped in dry country, to commit a mistake that would sacrifice his men. ”

“ Sandalwood is, as I have already said, one of the chief exports of the colony, and it is often the practice to store the logs in large heaps in the forest until a convenient opportunity for carting it to Perth or Guildford shall occur. An accumulation of this kind belonging to one of our friends, which had reached the value of a hundred pounds, was entirely consumed in a bush-fire shortly before we left Western Australia. Anyone is at liberty to carry away fuel from the bush, provided it be dead or fallen wood; but to cut growing timber requires a licence of ten shillings per month. ”

“ Some of the most dramatic incidents of bush life occur when an alarm of fire has been given, and the entire neighbourhood turns out to beat down the conflagration with bushes. The males form a line and work with all their energy to stamp out the flames, and the women and children help by supplying the toilers with refreshments and with a fresh stock of boughs and bushes. ”

“ Great numbers of ducks, cockatoos, cranes, and crows frequented the banks of the creek above the camp, and appeared to feed on the wild rice which was growing in considerable quantities in the moist hollows, as also a species of panicum; to the south-east of the creek there is a level box-flat which extends two to three miles back to the foot of some low sandy ridges covered with triodia and a few small eucalypti; to the north-west and west the grassy plain extended to the horizon, with scarcely even a bush to intercept the even surface of the waving grass. ”

“ Whilst this transformation was effecting in the gardens, which had lately looked so desolate, the bush was not behindhand in assuming a new appearance. The wattle, which is one species of the many kinds of Australian acacia, led the van amongst the indigenous flowering trees, and showed its pale yellow blossoms before May was over. Later in the rainy season the wattle was outvied by the acacia called the "raspberry jam," the flowers of which are of the brightest gold colour and grow in such abundant clusters that some of these trees appear better furnished with flowers than leaves. ”

“ Two or three stunted bushes of a species of eucalyptus were the only trees seen, excepting the mangroves. The soil is composed of a mixture of red quartzose sand, mud, and clay, in which the first bore the greatest proportion.
On no part of the coast did we find the heat so intense and oppressive as in this river; the thermometer stood at 94 degrees, and the ground was so heated that we were obliged to beat a bush down to stand upon, whilst we were taking the bearings of some of the islets in the offing. ”

“ In seven or eight miles we got into much better country, lightly timbered with mulga and splendidly grassed. Here also were some cotton and salt bush flats. To my English reader I may say that these shrubs, or plants, or bushes are the most valuable fodder plants for stock known in Australia; they are varieties of the Atriplex family of plants, and whenever I can record meeting them, I do it with the greatest satisfaction. At twelve miles the hills to our north receded, and there lay stretched out before us a most beautiful plain, level as a billiard table and green as an emerald. ”

“ I think we have now made the dip of the country to the south, but the mirage is so powerful that little bushes appear like great gum-trees, which makes it very difficult to judge what is before us; it is almost as bad as travelling in the dark. I never saw it so bright nor so continuous as it is now; one would think that the whole country was under water. Camped without water. No timber as yet on this side of the range, except a few bushes in the creek. A good deal of rain has fallen here lately, and the vegetation is looking fresh.
Monday, 12th July, Large Salt-Bush and Grass Plain. ”

“ There is every variety of soil from white sand, to the deep black vegetable alluvial mould, every variety, general speaking, having something of peculiar production, either of tree, shrub, herb, or flower. On the white sand, the Australian mahogany is found in great abundance, and of excellent quality; on the clay grounds, the red and blue gum trees appear; and sandy soils produce the Banksia and Protea.
For the first fifteen miles up the river, white sands present themselves on either side with some mixture of vegetable mould. In this district, white limestone is tolerably abundant. ”

“ That deep and extensive bed of clay, so uniformly filling the basin of this river, has every appearance of a mud deposit.
WOODS AND GRASSES.
Behind the plains the country is sparingly wooded except by the stunted bush (Myoporum montanum) which forms a thick scrub, especially on the side of the low hills. On the riverbank trees peculiar to it grow to so large a size that its course may be easily traced at great distances; and they thus facilitated our survey most materially. These gigantic trees consist of that species of eucalyptus called bluegum in the colony ”

“ Though there were outcrops of rocks near two of its haunts at Lake Austin, and again a huge outcropping quartz reef at Lake Way, I never saw an individual amongst the debris surrounding these formations. The species of salt-bush it prefers grows to a height of about 3 feet. The leaf is very small and sappy, and at fruiting season it has a small bright red berry, which is not unpleasant to the taste. When bruised the leaves have a scent like common garden sage. These bushes always grow singly, and generally on rich alluvial flats, but also on low sand-hills. ”

“ Two species of acacia are remarkable for the delicate and violet-like perfume of their wood—myall and yarran. The majority of the species of Acacia are edible and serve as reserve fodder for sheep and cattle. In the alluvial portions of the interior salsolaceous plants—saltbush, bluebush, cottonbush—are invaluable to the pastoralist, and to their presence the pre-eminence of Australia as a wool-producing country is largely due.
Grasses and herbage in great variety constitute the most valuable element of Australian flora from the commercial point of view. ”

“ In the tropical parts of Queensland there are many plants which belong to the Malayan region as a whole; this we might expect. We may see palms growing even at Brisbane; while 23 further north they form a dense forest, thoroughly tropical in appearance, with its creepers and undergrowth, as we see in these two pictures. But further 24 south we meet more species peculiar to Australia, in the vegetable no less than in the animal world. 25 The typical Australian plants are those specially adapted to resist hot sunshine with drought, and often sudden changes of temperature. ”

“ Most of the country was open and free from trees. Then there were other parts where the line passed for miles and miles through “scrub,” and at irregular intervals they came upon patches and stretches of Australian forest.
Harry noted that the forests through which they passed had very little undergrowth, so that it was easy to ride in any direction among the trees. Most of the trees that they saw were eucalypti, of which there are many varieties. The eucalyptus is by far the most common tree of Australia, and the best known variety is the one that is called “the blue gum.” ”

“ It is equally remarkable for the great size of its trunk, which is sometimes as much as eighty feet in circumference.
Tree-ferns are abundant and exceedingly fine in some parts of the eastern side of Australia, and there are some handsome palms in Queensland and New South Wales; but neither of these groups is represented in West Australia, unless it be quite in the north.
One more prominent feature in Australian vegetation are the large expanses of the so-called “scrub” of the colonists. ”

“ The heavy spreading roots however of this dwarf tree and the prickly grass together occupy the ground and seem intended to bind down the sands of the vast interior deserts of Australia. Their disproportioned roots also prevent the bushes from growing very close together and, the stems being leafless except at the top, this kind of eucalyptus is almost proof against the running fires of the bush. The prickly grass resembles at a distance, in colour and form, an overgrown bush of lavender ”

“ At five miles found that the sandy country swept round the stony rise, the country still having the appearance of scrub and sand hills all round. I altered my course to south-east to 132 degrees for fourteen miles; on this course we have ridden over a scrubby plain of a light sandy soil, most beautifully grassed but dry, the young feed not having sprung. We have not seen a drop of water on the surface; the ground evidently absorbs all that falls; the scrub is principally the mulga and hakea bushes and acacia, with a few other small bushes, but very little salt bush. ”

“ The cedar tree is one important feature, and the kauri pine is found in one small tract in the north of Queensland.
Further south, however, the trees grow to an enormous height in the elevated forest lands. Victoria and Western Australia are particularly noted for the giant growth of some of their trees. In Victoria the white gum (EUCALYPTUS AMYGDALINA) has been found growing to a height of over four hundred feet; the red gum (EUCALYPTUS ROSTRATA) , and the blue gum (EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS) also attain a great size in our southern colonies. ”