Page:Literature in New South Wales.djvu/12

 is a very lengthy one. During the last thirty years, there seems to have been a great amount of activity in this way, scarcely a year passing by without some new competitors for public favour. Many of these, no doubt, displayed but a moderate share of ability; but on the other hand, there were many in whose pages may be found evidence of very striking talent. The present state of our periodical literature, it must be confessed, does not adequately represent the great advance made by this Colony in wealth and refinement. We have two daily papers, but their attention is necessarily devoted more to matters of business than anything else: nor is either distinguished by the splendour of the editorial intellect. We have several weekly newspapers, but they address themselves to particular sections, and none of them can be read for anything beyond the intelligence it supplies. We have no magazine; the last died eight years ago, and there is little probability of another. We have one comic periodical, and that is the only publication that attempts to exist as a purely literary production.

Turning to other fields, we may say that the rough groundwork of a "national literature" has been laid. Poetry has been diligently cultivated, and, in some instances, not in vain. One or two volumes display the unmistakeable hand of genius. The splendid scenery of our native land has not remained unsung; something distinctively Australian has resulted from its worship. In prose Fiction, more than one creditable effort has been made. The History of the Colony—in a great measure, of all Australia—has been exhaustively written. Our narratives of Exploration have been read with interest in circles far beyond our own firesides. Much has been done by us towards elucidating the great mystery of Australian geography, and the Chronicles that have been written on the subject possess a lasting value. Nor have we been inattentive to other problems that concern us. The dialects of the aboriginal tribes have, to some extent, been reduced to