Page:The British Empire in the nineteenth century Volume VI.djvu/224

 the Maranoa and Warrego Districts, the other turning south to join the railways of New South Wales. On this southern arm stands the pretty little stone and brick built town of Warwick, in a bracing air 1500 feet above sea-level, with a population of 4000. The place is the centre of an agricultural and pastoral district of rich black soil. The Condamine flows past to join the Darling far away.

The Mary River, falling into Wide Bay, has on its banks, about 25 miles from the sea, thriving Maryborough, with a population of about 9000. Vessels drawing 17½ feet can reach the wharves of this District-capital, which is the terminus of several short railways, and the port for the Gympie gold and Burrum coal. Two large engineering factories, saw-mills, sugar-mills, and important dugong and oyster fisheries give work and wealth to the people. The river, sharply curving at this point, is crossed by a bridge one-third of a mile in length. Gympie, with a population of 9000, lies also on the Mary River, many miles above Maryborough, in a mineral district which, besides a large production of gold from mines over 1000 feet in depth, has silver, copper, cinnabar, antimony, bismuth, and nickel. There are good public buildings, gas, and water-supply. , the second town of the colony for size and importance, with 12,000 people, lies 420 miles north-west of Brisbane, on the Fitzroy River, about 40 miles from its mouth. It is the chief town and port of central Queensland, and, as the terminus of a main line of railway (the Central), extending about 400 miles inland, it serves as an entrepôt for a vast interior region. The Mount Morgan gold-mine is about 30 miles distant, and the surrounding country is rich in copper and silver, with a large trade in wool, tallow, maize, and preserved meats. The town is well laid out, with gas-lit streets, good water-supply, excellent buildings, and fine botanical gardens, on both banks of the river, connected by a good iron suspension- bridge nearly 1200 feet in length. Many of the wide streets are planted with trees; a fine esplanade fronts the stream on the south bank. Shut out from the coast by a lofty range of hills that inter- cept the sea-breeze, and shut in by lesser elevations at the back, Rockhampton, in summer, suffers much from heat, which prosperous citizens escape by resorting to beautiful spots on the coast north of Keppel Bay. Another important town in this Port Curtis District is Gladstone, 90 miles south-west of Rockhampton. The place lies on the coast, with a fine harbour, reputed the best in Queensland,