Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/29



history of a country, and of the growth of its people amongst the family of nations, has seldom a clearly defined starting-point. There is usually a long period of gloom in the far distant past, which challenges antiquarian researches, and leaves an inquirer doubtful whether to accept the traditions of a Livy, or to join in the iconoclasm of a Niebuhr. If the inhabitants, when first emerging from that gloom, could foresee the interest which future ages would take in their early fortunes, how sedulously would they guard each relic of the past, how scrupulously would they record each fact about which, though in their own time there might be no room for doubt, disputes in after time cluster like bees about a hive! Even in our own day, when books and pamphlets are like autumn leaves in abundance—and in fate—how much need is there for judgment in prosecuting an inquiry! How strong and yet how contradictory are the assertions made; how studiously analytic must he be who would weave the conflicting elements into a trustworthy narration! How frequently is it found that the audacity of a contemporary writer has so coloured events that the plain tint of truth runs risk of being lost for ever.

The historian of Australia has no period of mythical gloom to explore with regard to the British who subdued and replenished the land; but, in selecting facts and valuing