Page:History of West Australia.djvu/539

 Mine at Wadnaminga, in the north. Twelve months later he relinquished the position to work the Earl of Kintore Mine on tribute. He did fairly well out of this venture, and placed his money in the banks. It would have been just as well had he left the gold in the earth's storehouse, for the financial crisis and the closing and subsequent reconstruction of the banks absorbed his money.

At Adelaide Captain Bissenberger now organised a syndicate, and in 1893 came to Western Australia to endeavour to secure some good mines. He made his way to Coolgardie, whence after a few days he went to Hannan's. In neither of these places did he see just what he required. He journeyed to White Feather, and took up four leases of twelve acres each. His first experiences there were not of the pleasantest. He arrived on a terribly hot and thirsty day, and water cost 4s. 6d. a gallon. But these leases formed the nucleus of his useful connection with the goldfields of Western Australia. At first the four were worked separately, one named the Bissenberger Mine, and the other the White Feather Reef. They are now amalgamated, under the title of the White Feather Main Reef Company, and give promise of a lucrative career.

Since then Captain Bissenberger has been busy. He became connected as expert with the Henry Parsons' Syndicate, a very strong Perth body. He purchased for them, at a low figure, the Robinson Gold Mine, which, with an adjoining property, has since been floated. In connection with Mr. H. D. Parsons, Captain Bissenberger has acted as advisor, or expert, for a number of mines, and with Mr. J. S. Reed and others has assisted in the flotation of a large number of companies. He last year visited London on mining business; altogether, he has floated on the London market mining ventures representing 1,400 acres. He is general manager of the Easter Gift Proprietary Gold Mining Company, and consulting engineer to the English Exploration Company. His confidence in the future of the Western Australian goldfields is great.

Captain Bissenberger has, therefore, had a fairly extensive experience of mining. He is considered a practical miner, and his opinion is esteemed as worth having. There is every likelihood of his greatly extending his connection with the local gold mines. A student of geology and a practical man in one should be cordially welcomed by local goldfield's people and by capitalists elsewhere.

DAVID LINDSAY, F.R.G.S., M.S.A.I.S.

HERE is a strong strain of romance and praiseworthy courage in the stories of the "path-finders" of Australia. Beginning with those of Flinders and Bass, the records of expeditions which have assailed the unknown supply a connected and vividly interesting narrative of Australian exploration. Before pastoralists, agriculturists, artisans, and miners established themselves, the "path-finder" pushed his way through forests, over hills, and across deserts, and told the world of what he saw. The list of heroes of this class is not confined to one colony, but is fairly evenly divided among them all. Nor are they merely local heroes, for with sometimes poor equipments, and under extremely adverse circumstances, they have performed labours so meritorious as to sound their fame from Dan to Beersheba. They fought no united race of aborigines, no wild beasts, but they had enemies more deadly and decidedly more dispiriting. The endless desert waste, and the limitless expanses of desolate country—the poignant horrors of thirst and hunger—are far less attractive forms of obstacles than the opportunities for courage and strength which strong beasts and untamed men supply. Many have perished in the laudable attempt to traverse the darkness of the Interior, and some have succeeded, and received only the cold thanks of their country. Their graves—where known—implore the passing tribute of a sigh. But the glory of these men must shine more luminously in after centuries, when large populations shall be scattered over the regions they discovered.

Even to-day Australia is not completely mapped out, and there are large stretches of country to be "discovered" by the explorer. The past twenty years have thrown more light on hitherto unvisited and vast areas, and in that period the name of David Lindsay is the most noted for his hardihood and dauntless courage in exploration. Mr. Lindsay possesses a strong constitution, an inflexible will where natural obstacles have to be overcome, an adventurous love, and a curiosity for penetrating the least known parts of his native island continent. His experience extends over tens of thousands of square miles of country, never before seen by white men, and he has made journeys which demanded an intimate knowledge of bushcraft and stern powers of endurance and courage. No more prominent and successful path-finder has gone into the unknown for many years.

Goolwa, South Australia, was the birthplace of David