In the early days of settlement in East and West Moreton and on the Darling Downs, the small selector, with no capital in many cases save a pair of strong hands, a courageous heart, and a tireless energy, made his way every year to the squatter's shearing shed. No thought had he of "knocking down" his hard-earned cheque. Labour disputes never entered his mind. With his earnings he paid his rent and improved his land. It was men of this stamp who built up the great agricultural industry of Southern Queensland, and they and their descendants of the second and third generations are the very cream of the farmers of to-day. It is to a similar class of settlers in the sugar districts and their hinterland that we look for the proper settlement and development of our tropical lands. And in our aspirations for a great white agricultural population we are entitled to expect the sympathetic assistance of our kinsmen in the South and of the Empire at large. For not only are we doing what we can to make a prosperous and contented people, but we are doing a great work for the whole of the white races. We are proving that the tropics can be conquered and permanently settled by people of our own race and colour; we are holding one of the gateways of the East; and we are garrisoning an important outpost of the Empire. Kipling's stirring words, written of Queensland, find an echo in the hearts of Queenslanders-- The northern stirp beneath the southern skies-- I build a Nation for an Empire's need, Suffer a little, and my land shall rise, Queen over lands indeed! CHAPTER IV. A HALF-CENTURY OF MINING. The Quest for Gold a Colonising Agency.--Earliest Discoveries of the Precious Metal in Queensland. --Port Curtis.--Rockhampton District.--Peak Downs. --Gympie.--Ravenswood.--Charters Towers.--Palmer.--Mount Morgan.--Croydon.--Later Discoveries.--Yield at Charters Towers and Mount Morgan.--Copper Mining.--Tin.--Silver. --Queensland the Home of All Kinds of Minerals and Precious Stones.--Mineral Wealth in Cairns Hinterland.--Copper Deposits in Cloncurry District.--The Etheridge.--Anakie Gem Field.--Opal Fields.--Extensive Coal Measures.--Railway Communication with Mining Fields.--Value of Queensland Mineral Output.--Prospects of Industry.