Page:History of West Australia.djvu/374

 322

Australia. There was a total of 29,523 immigrants (24,173 males and 5,350 females) in 1895, while the emigration amounted to 11,129, leaving Western Australia the gainer by 18,394 persons. The population of the colony in 1895 was 101,235, made up of 69,727 males and 31,508 females. The immigration in December was greater than that of any preceding month, and totalled 4,540. Most of these people came from the Eastern colonies, which were still greatly depressed. From one point of view the migration was unwelcome to them, and from another it undoubtedly afforded them a great relief. The unemployed difficulty, which in each colony was becoming a serious problem, was largely removed by no voluntary effort of the Governments, and thousands of pounds of money were monthly sent from Western Australia to the families left in their old homes. Nearly every part of the colony gained a certain percentage of the incomers, but the goldfields and Perth and Fremantle were chiefly advantaged.

The standard of the arrivals in 1895 was essentially a high one, and, excepting merchants who remained in Perth and Fremantle, the best hurried to the goldfields. Life on the hungry deserts was so arduous and void of comforts that he was brave and strong who voluntarily bore it. As in Ballarat and Bendigo, the results were usually beneficial to the physical and mental stamina of the men. Most of the prospectors and business men on the gold fields were young or in their prime. They were representative of nearly every class, from the aristocrat and university man through all the professional and commercial grades to the miner and labourer. Most of them were possessed of a little capital, and some were already wealthy. These latter were adventurous spirits whose past habits of life impelled them to a newly-opened gold region to partake of its unequalled excitement, romance, and opportunities. There were also those men of world-wide experience who are best pleased when placed at the world's outposts. Among them were the irrepressible speculators, who exploit a goldfield to purchase new claims from prospectors in order to sell them at a high price to the London capitalist; they play that important part of "booming" an infantile goldfield. The largest proportion of the goldfields people, however, were vigorous young men from the Eastern colonies and from the old settled districts of Western Australia. Many of them are perpetuating the traditions of their fathers on the Victorian goldfields forty years ago. In December, 1895, the population of Coolgardie was about 6,000 persons, of Kalgoorlie district about 3,000, and of all the various goldfields over 20,000.

It may not be out of place to sketch phases of goldfields experiences. To reach Cue or Coolgardie dreary journeys had to be made on foot, in waggons, and in coaches. In 1895 the desert tracks were execrable. Coaches and waggons had cut deep into the soft soil or sand, and the wheels were hurled in dust to a depth of from six to twelve inches, or more. Occasionally this soft covering hid a boulder or stump, and the vehicles were nearly capsized and groaned suspiciously under the strain put upon them. In such a way the journey was sometimes continued for days. Once a conveyance entered the ruts of the track it was difficult to get out of them. Nearly every desert road was wide enough for two vehicles to pass; there were distinctive ruts for the vehicles going and those returning. The mighty desert of Coolgardie was lined with hundreds of conveyances entering or leaving the goldfields towns. At intervals of every few miles, over a stretch of 120 miles, waggons and coaches and carts were passed. Their presence could be detected for miles ahead, and in the rear by the clouds of dust which hung over them like a cloud. This dust settled gently on the travellers, so that in a few minutes they were almost unrecognisable. Alongside the track there was generally a "camel pad," over which swung trains of camels to the number of fifty or a hundred, bearing heavy burden of food, goods, or building materials, &c., for the inhabitants of the desert. In 1895 there were 3,456 camels in the colony. In the first half of 1894 one or two prospecting parties came to Western Australia overland from South Australia, and thenceforward an overland route was taken by numbers of the incoming men. The country traversed under such difficult circumstances by Eyre, Forrest, Giles, and Lindsey has been often crossed since the desert goldfields were exploited, not only by camels, but by teams, by isolated men on foot, and by cyclists. The horses employed on the goldfields proved exceedingly hardy, and performed journeys without water which were previously thought impossible. In the hottest weather they have been known to pull heavy burdens over the sand waste without a drink for thirty and forty hours. When a roadside condenser was reached, their owners sometimes had to pay a pound for a single drink for each of the thirsty beasts. In 1895 there were estimated to be upwards of 600 teams and about 4,000 horses running on the road between Southern Cross and Coolgardie. Along this road there were five Government tanks, with a capacity of 5,300,000 gallons, excavated at a cost of £17,161. Wells were sunk in numbers of places on the eastern fields, and condensers were erected to purify the water obtained from them. At Southern Gross, Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, and other centres, and along the desert tracks, these useful contrivances, glistening bright in the sun, and set in cleared patches of weakly timber, were a common sight. Their owners, at one time and another, have obtained large profits from them; indeed, fortunes have been made out of condensers.

Very large numbers of bicycles were used for transport on the Western Australian goldfields. Mail carrying was often performed by them, and when messages had to be hurriedly delivered, perhaps fifty miles out on the desert, a cyclist was approached in preference to camel or horsemen. Regular bicycle delivery agencies were established in the goldfields towns, and the riders, who obtained (and deservedly so) high remuneration, were required to exhibit powers of endurance equal to those demonstrated by horses and camels. The cyclist thought little of starting from Coolgardie or Kalgoorlie on a hot desert journey of several days' duration. Over the long plains riding was comparatively easy; it was only when a stage of soft sand had to be covered that difficulty was experienced. Perhaps in few places has this latter-day invention proved such an invaluable adjunct to civilisation as in the interior of Western Australia. In October, 1895, a cyclist died on the road between Mount Ida and Coolgardie. Evidently overcome by thirst and exhaustion, he dismounted and started to walk. Two travellers first found his bicycle and followed up his footprints. A few miles away they found his boots, and saw where he had evidently become too weak to walk, and had begun to crawl through the dust on hands and knees. Then some miles away they came to the poor fellow's dead body.

In building the towns the stamina of the goldfields people was abundantly shown. Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, Menzies, Cue, Nannine, and the other places were situated hundreds of miles from settled districts. The roads thither were usually dry and difficult to pass. Around them there was sometimes not sufficient building stone to construct a chimney. The wood was suitable only for shingle roofs