Importance of Industry.--Small Beginnings in New South Wales.--Extension of Industry.--Stocking of Darling Downs and Western Queensland.--Rush for Pastoral Lands.--Difficulties of Early Squatters.--Influx of Victorian Capital.--Changes in Method of Working Stations.--Boom in Pastoral Properties. --Checks from Drought.--Discovery of Artesian Water. --Conservation of Surface Water.--Introduction of Grazing Farm System.--Closer Settlement of Darling Downs. --Cattle-Rearing.--Meat-Freezing Works.--Overstocking. --Dairying.--Station Routine.--Charm of Pastoral Life. --Shearing.--Hospitality of Squatters.--Attraction of Industry as Investment and Occupation. The pastoral industry in Queensland is, in point of duration, well within the compass of a single life. In about seventy years it has attained its present dimensions, and, as progress in the early years was very slow, its magnitude to-day supplies striking testimony to the energy and enterprise of two generations. The description of Queensland as a huge sheep and cattle farm with contributive industries, which without very great extravagance might have been offered forty years ago, has long ceased to be applicable. But though other industries have grown into importance, reducing its pre-eminence, the pastoral still retains its unquestioned lead and is deservedly regarded as the main source of the State's wealth. Bearing in mind that the total exports from Queensland for 1907 were rather over fourteen and a-half millions sterling, of which pastoral produce claimed more than half, it will be seen that this title to precedence cannot be challenged. With an abatement of L529,000 for butter--dairying being associated with agriculture--this imposing sum is the direct product of the natural grasses. It can hardly be surprising then, after realising the potential wealth of these pastures, that visitors should be struck with the fact that rainfall--past, present, and prospective--is a constant and very prominent topic in all grades of social intercourse.