Australasia: Eight Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial OfficeSargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
History
Australasia: Eight Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial Office
Sargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
Australasia -- Description and travel
In the valley of the Huon, as well as in that of the Derwent, are
orchards everywhere, proving that we are still in the sheltered
lowland which we have traced from Launceston southwards. The
cottages and gardens, with their masses of English flowers; the
English trees, oaks and elms, and the hawthorn hedges all along
the roadside, remind us strongly of England. Many even of the
birds are English. In fact, this part of the island has been
quite transformed by the colonists until it closely resembles
the mother country. But we enter the forest and step at once
from England to Australia. Here are the tall gums with their
untidy bark and dead branches, and the swarms of honey-eating
birds flitting among their blossoms. Here, too, are the wattle
and banksia and many other plants peculiar to Australia, and the
further we move from civilisation the less there is in the face
of the country to remind us of England. But one difference may
be noted between Tasmania and the rest of Australia: however
far we penetrate into the wild interior we shall not meet the
aborigines. They were few in number at the time of the first
settlement, and the last survivor died many years ago.
LECTURE V
SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA
On our visits to other great capitals we have found steamers
unloading their cargoes in the very heart of the city; but
Adelaide, founded in 1836 and named after the wife of King
William IV., is neither on the sea nor on a navigable river.
The original settlers were aiming at a purely agricultural
colony, and so chose a position a few miles inland in the midst
of fertile land and pleasant scenery. So we must land at Port
Adelaide and take the train.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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