Page:History of West Australia.djvu/505

Rh the flesh of the kangaroo, and war raged between the intrepid squatter and the natives. The latter were very numerous and bold in this district. Large numbers of sheep were speared and driven away, and in the encounters civilised natives employed on the station and also white men were killed or wounded. In the course of time these troubles passed away, and Mr Bush grew so rich in worldly goods that when Mr. John Sydney Davis' magnificent Mount Clere Station, of one million acres, adjoining Clifton Downs, was put in the market, he became the purchaser, and thus increased his run to the enormous dimensions of two million acres. In 189l the station was stocked with 75,000 sheep; and then came the terrible drought of 1891 and 1892, and in less than four months 54,000 sheep died. Mr. Bush, with that persistency that has characterised him through life, did not lose heart under this blow, but fought on against the heavy odds, and re-stocked the land. He imported a valuable Vermont ram from America, besides several high-class shipments of ewes and rams from the eastern colonies, and formed the nucleus of a strong healthy class of animals, valuable both for fleece and mutton. He has at the present time 50,000 sheep, 1,200 cattle, and 300 horses on the station, and hopes to have before many years are over 200,000 sheep, besides cattle and horses, depasturing over the immense runs which he is now so busily improving and developing. His horses are of a very superior class, and find a ready market on the goldfields.

During the years that have come and gone since Mr. Bush took up his abode on the banks of the Gascoyne, in a modest little paper bark hut, many changes have taken place. The homestead is now an ideal country residence, set in flower and vegetable gardens. The shearing shed is deservedly recognised as the most complete in the colony, with its steam engine, shearing machines, wool presses, and dumper; its wool-scouring apparatus, its circular saws, and punching appliances. The land through which the Gascoyne flows for 200 miles is divided into numerous paddocks by over 300 miles of substantial fencing, and the back blocks are watered by wells with windmills. These are not the only changes, for Mr. Bush, who is a great authority on all matters concerning the natives, has by a system of justice, combined with firmness and kindness, induced the descendants of the tribes of blacks, who a few years ago harrowed his flocks and herds, to become his most useful servants, and they now perform, with great cheerfulness and dexterity, most of the station work, including shearing and fencing. Clifton Downs was the first station in West Australia to shear by machinery.

Mr. Bush was married in 1893 to the third surviving daughter of the late Mr. Francis Lochee, so well known as the manager of the Western Australian Bank for a period of over forty years. His wedded life was very brief, however, for within three years his wife was dead. For some years Mr. Bush was a nominee member of the Legislative Council after the introduction of Responsible Government. When the Legislative Council became elective the great drought was worrying the minds of the squatters, and Mr. Bush like his neighbours in misfortune was too much occupied with his private affairs to take a prominent part in politics, and he retired and refused to allow himself to be nominated as a candidate, although repeatedly requisitioned to do so. He is still a member of the Upper Gascoyne Roads Board, of which he was the first chairman, is also an honorary Inspector of Stock under the Government, was the founder and first president of the Northerners' Association, and has been a magistrate of the colony for many years. Mr. Bush is an enthusiastic sportsman, and takes a keen interest in both cricket and racing, in fact of all manly sports. The years of toil and hardship in the bush have not impaired his cunning with the "willow," which he still wields with no mean skill. He organised the annual matches between representative teams of the Northern and Southern districts, and has always played with much success in these events. From his father, who was one of the founders of the Western Australian Turf Club, and who raced horses with much success in the old days, he has inherited a love for equine sport. He is a steward of the principal local club, and also of the Murchison Amateur Racing Club, and vice-president cf the Gascoyne and Victoria Turf Clubs. He has owned and raced some good horses, and is an excellent four-in-hand whip.

For many years Mr. Bush has been a firm believer in the mineral resources of the colony, and has been interested in several prospecting parties, but so far his enterprise has not met with the success it deserves. He was one of the very first to personally prospect and take up leases at Golden Valley, Yilgarn. Mr. Bush is a fair specimen of the gallant body of landed proprietors to whom Western Australia owes her present position. He has great determination, keen business instincts, and a genial disposition.