Handbook of Western Australia/Part 2

by Charles Grenfell Nicolay

ST MARY'S LAKE.

PART II.

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CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS.

As the geological conformation of the Colony divides it into districts distinct in character, so in connexion with their position it has determined their climate and productions. The great granitic masses of the South-West are covered by forests, the trees to the South being of gigantic growth, showing not only the fertility of the soil, but the greater humidity of the climate, of which also the greater abundance of fresh water gives sufficient proof; moreover, the forest growth prevents the great rapidity of evaporation which is experienced on the plains of the North, Centre, and South-East of the Colony; these causes determine the distribution and occupations of the inhabitants. The South-West must ultimately prove the most populous and generally productive portion of the Colony, having the most varied surface, the best climate, and affording agricultural aa well as pastoral districts. No country is capable of producing a greater abundance of fruit and vegetables. It is, emphatically, a land of corn, wine, oil, fruits, flowers, milk, and honey. The more extensive pastoral districts must necessarily prove less populous, yet in them there sire agricultural areas, as at the mouths of the Greenough and Irwin, and mineral districts, as at Northampton, near Champion Bay, which can afford occupation for large numbers of people. The agricultural areas of the pastoral districts, although comparatively small and scattered, may be estimated as sufficient to provide food for any future population. The settled districts of the Colony are connected with the coasts by the rivers, and it is of these only that the climate and productions can be stated with any certainty. The results of meteorological observations in the different districts are given in the following tables:—

The average temperature and atmospheric pressure, taken from the observations made by the late W. H. Knight, Esq., at Perth, are, during the years 1867-8-9:—

Barometer,	Max.	30·47	May, Aug., 1868, and June, 1869
Do	Min.	30·13	January, 69
Thermometer,	Max.	107	March, 68
Do. Min. }	day	40	July, 1867, August, 1869
	night	38	August, 1867-69
Daily Mean,	Max.	79·8	February, 1867
Do.	Min.	57·1	July, 1869

The greatest rainfall was in the month of June, having been 13·91 inches in 1868, the average of the three years being 10·85 inches for that month. The least rainfall was in December, 1867, ·01, and in January, 1868, ·01 inch; in the months of February and March no rains fell.

The number of days on which rain fell, and the total rainfall, were:—

1867, days	114,	fall	37·82 inches
1868,   "	109,	"	38·29   do.
1869,   "	89,	"	27·68   do.

The averages being 102·3 days and 34·57 inches.

During the year 1876 the following results were obtained by observations taken at the Surveyor General's Office, Perth:—

Barometer, highest reading, 30·463 on 25th July

Do. lowest do., 29·319 on 13th Nov.

Giving a range for the year of 1·144 inches

Thermometer, max. in shade, 112° on 20th Feb.

Do., min. do., 34·7 on 24th July

Highest mean for one month, 93·7, February

Lowest do., 46·8, August

The total rainfall for the year 28·73 inches, which fell on 110 days.

Maximum for one month, 8·45 inches in June

Minimum do., 0·04 do. February

This year is to be noted for the small amount of the rainfall.

The Official Report from Bunbury for the year 1876 gives the following results:—

Barometer, highest,	30·39	in July
Do. lowest,	29·05	in Nov.
Highest average of 12 months	30·17
Lowest do. do.	29·49
General average do.	29·83
Thermometer, highest,	83	January
Do. lowest,	54	June
Highest average 12 months	74·7
Lowest do. do.	59·5
General average do.	67·1
Rainfall, highest	95/10	in June
Do. lowest	0	in March
Total for year	439/10	inches

Prevailing winds January to May, E. a.m. and W. p.m.; June, W. and N.W.; July, E. and N.E.; August, W. and N.W.; September to January, S.W. and W.

At Breaksea Island, King George's Sound, the averages from observations taken at the lighthouse during four years, from 1873 to 1876, were:—

Barometer, highest, 30·156 inches in November

Do., lowest, 29·010 do. June

Thermometer, highest, 80 in February

Do., lowest, 45 in June and October

At Champion Bay the highest range of the thermometer for three years was before a storm in the month of March, viz., 110°, the highest ordinary range was 104 in January, the lowest 44 in July. In the North-West district the thermometer had risen in a tent to 115° and in a room to 110°. The lowest range observed by Mr. Sholl was 48°, he also observed, during the hurricane of 1872, the mercury in the barometer fell to 28·96 inches; this is of course an extreme case, the highest known reading has been 30·35 inches.

The prevailing winds are on the South coast from S.E. to S.W., variable, but more Easterly during the summer. On the West Coast from November to March; Easterly in the morning and blowing fresh from the S.W. in the afternoon; the Southerly winds are cold; and during this period the Easterly winds are hot. A hot wind sometimes blows from the East for two or three days in succession. During the winter months the Easterly winds are cold, the winds are variable, calms frequent, generally preceding gales with wind and rain from the N.W.; these commence in the East and die out when they have worked round to the West. Exceptional gales are experienced from the East as well as from the West.

On the North coast hurricanes have been experienced in December, February, March, and April. The most destructive on record, that of 20th and 21st March, 1872, commenced from the South-East, and having veered to North, there was a calm for about half-an-hour; it then began to blow from the North-West and by West to South-East, when it dropped to a calm; the greatest force of the storm was at the middle points, East and West.

The climate of the North-West is for the most part dry, with occasional tropical rains and strong winds from December to April inclusive; exceptional rains with moderate winds in June and July.

Ice has been seen on the Ashburton and from thence to the South coast, especially in the upper valley of the Murchison River, but in no part of the Colony has it been observed to last many hours. Hail is rare, but occasionally, even on the North coast, severe. Thunder storms are not frequent, more common towards the North, where damage has occasionally been done by lightning; they are periodical in the summer in the Murchison District.

There are of course in West Australia, as elsewhere, the usual differences resulting from locality, but the healthfulness of the climate of West Australia will appear from the following facts:—

In 1869 the population was 24,785 persons, the deaths only 334, or 13·47 in 1000: this may be taken as a fair average year. In 1875 the population was 26·709, and the deaths 473, or 21·0 in 1000, this was an usually unhealthy year. Taking the principal causes of death, there were from

	1869.	1875.
Miasmatic diseases …	73	129	deaths
Diseases of Respiratory Organs …	35	56	do.
Do. Nervous System …	33	53	do.
Phthisis …	8	27	do.
Disease of Digestive Organs …	30	24	do.

In 1869 no deaths from alcoholism are recorded, hut in 1875 there were three. The deaths from accident average 25. Comparing the death rates of England and the other Australian Colonies with that of West Australia, it appears that:

In England	the death rate is	22·40	in 1000
New Zealand	do.	11·38	do.
Tasmania	do.	13·76	do.
West Australia	do.	13·47	do.

Tasmania and New Zealand being relatively the highest and lowest of the other Australian Colonies; hut great allowance must be made for immigration. In New Zealand in 1871 the number of persons born in the Colony were 64·052; and of immigrants, 192·341, those born in the Colony being less than one-fourth of the whole number. The introduction of so large a number of young and healthy persons must necessarily have decreased the death-rate very materially. The same ailment might be applied to the three other Colonies of Australia, and West Australia may therefore be assumed to be more healthful than any other part of Australasia, as immigration can have had no effect on the death-rate of West Australia, for in 1875 only 447 persons arrived in the Colony, and it was in that year emigration to the Colony recommenced. The character and mode of life of the convict population would also tend to increase rather than diminish the death-rate. Although the returns given show that the climate is very healthful, yet it must be remembered that health does not depend on climatic influences solely, but equally, if not more especially, on die customs, habits, and manner of living of the people in any country. The healthfulness of the climate of West Australia is, no doubt, consequent on the dryness and elasticity of the atmosphere throughout the greater part of the year; but the cold southerly winds, which blow almost daily in summer, and with great strength on the South-West coast; and, on the other hand, the occasional hot easterly winds, must affect those who are by necessity exposed to them. In the outlying districts the diet of the people is confined within very narrow limits: meat and bread, often unleavened, are the common food; tea, drank frequently and in large quantities, the ordinary beverage; and, as a natural consequence, beer and spirits are largely consumed when opportunity is afforded. The nature of the occupation of, the colonists exposes many of them to accidents, and evil climatic influences; medical aid is often unattainable. The death rate is therefore larger than it might be, and some diseases result from the diet and habits of the people, which, under improved circumstances, will disappear. It is therefore no exaggeration, speaking generally, to say that the climate of West Australia is one of the most healthful in the world. From the tables given above it will appear that it varies less than, from the great extent of its surface, might be expected. It is also to be noted that the districts in which the personal labours of the white population are most necessary, are those most suited to European constitutions. In the North coast and the Murchison River, for instance, the stock-owners employ the natives as shepherds, and for other labour on their stations which they are well able to perform; but they are not so capable of agricultural labour, cutting timber, or clearing the ground; and, as the South-West requires, so it will support the reward the labor of a larger white population than the North or East.

Although exposure, at all seasons, and for a long period, must necessarily prove more or less injurious to man, yet there are few countries where less protection from the elements is required. Disease has been almost unknown among the explorers, who have traversed the country in all directions, and who, in the early days of the Colony at least, seldom carried any shelter with them. In the towns, as well as in the country, the healthy appearance of the children cannot escape notice.

The most important natural productions of the vegetable kingdom are the grasses and "scrub," which cover the plains, and form the food of the kangaroo and of the sheep and cattle pastured on them; the timber, which forms the forests of the South-West; the pine timber of the North; sandalwood, which is found scattered over the hilly districts in most parts of the Colony; and lead and copper ore, which, abounding in many other places, are at present worked only in the Champion Bay district, the Murchison river, and on the North-West Coast.

The district of forests is estimated by the Commissioner of Crown Lands to have an area of 30,000 square miles, and extends over the hill country, from the North of the Moore river to the South Coast, as well as on the plains to the South-West and to the East of King George's Sound, where it dies out. The forest trees are of the genus Eucalyptus; the approximate areas covered by the principal species are given in the following table:—

	Square miles.
White Gum, Eucalyptus Viminalis,	10000
Jarrah, Eucalyptus Marginata	14000
Karri (Blue Gum) Eucalyptus Diversicolor, mixed with jarrah	2300
Tooart, Eucalyptus Gomphocephala	500
Red Gum, Eucalyptus Robusta	800
York Gum, Eucalyptus Coxocephala	2400

The York Gum, though of smaller size, is common as far North as the Murchison river. The Jarrah is becoming well known for its good qualities, strength, durability, and especially for its immunity from the attacks of submarine animals and the white ant, if cut at the proper age, and time of year, and well seasoned before using. For ship building, bridges, wharfs, jetties, &c., it is therefore of great value, and the more so, as iron bolts and nails driven into it do not loosen from rust, as in most other woods; it is in consequence one of the most important staples of the trade of the" Colony. The Karri or Karrie tree is confined to the extreme South and West; its gigantic proportions excite the admiration of all those who see them; indeed the Karri timber is so huge that, though of much value, it is comparatively little used. Captain Bannister in 1830 measured trees 18 feet in circumference, and estimated the branches at 100 feet; since then many of much larger dimensions have been observed. Governor Weld measured some 150 feet to the branches; they are commonly 6 feet in diameter, and have been observed of double that size. White Gums are found for the most part in the beds and on the banks of all the rivers of the Colony. The Tea Tree, or Paper Bark, is characteristic of the water courses and lake margins, as the yeat is found in and about the shallow lakes to the East of King George's Sound; belts of Mulga and other shrubs intersect the plains in the East and centre of the Colony, and Marlock thickets cover the flanks of the sandstone ranges of the South-East. There are many other smaller trees, the wood of which is useful for the several purposes enumerated below, and some yield valuable resins. At the Intercolonial Exhibition held in Sydney in the year 1873, Mr. George Whitfield exhibited specimens of 14 different sorts of Eucalypti found in the Toodyay district, viz., Jarrah, Twatta, a small kind but very valuable for wheelwright's work; Coolan, growing in moist ground, a soft wood; Morral, growing to 3 feet in diameter and 90 feet in height, straight, heavy, close in grain, and useful in house building, and cabinetmaker's work; Wandow grows to a large size, splits well for fencing, is very hard, and does not warp; Worlock, growing to three feet in diameter and 80 feet in height, splits well for fencing and hurdles; Dardeback is rather smaller, tough, but does not split well; Mallet is light, splits well, and is much used for making hurdles; Melyerick grows to 6 feet in diameter and 70 in height, and when seasoned is the hardest of the timbers of the Colony; Marlock is of small growth but very tough; of Coorup, the largest of all, the young timber is much used in coach building, and the gum valuable as a powerful astringent; this is probably nearly related to the Red Gum, the gum of which is very bitter to the taste, and has the same valuable medicinal property, as it is specific in cases of dysentery and diarrhoea; Parral grows to the height of 100 feet, is sound, light, and splits well for fencing; Wanderock grows to 2 feet in diameter and 40 in height, splits well, is long in the grain, and valuable especially for dray shafts; Hardham forms large thickets in Hie interior, seldom exceeds 6 inches in diameter, is very tough, and said to he equal to lance wood.

The wood of the Mangar or Raspherry Jam tree, so named from its peculiar scent, is extremely hard and excellent for turning, and for furniture, as is the native pear; the Tea Tree, or Paper Bark, is used for boat and carriage building; the Peppermint and Swamp Banksia for cabinet work; Shea Oak and Jarrah are used for shingles; the latter will not easily take fire; "White and Red Gum are most commonly used in carriage and cart building, and the bark of the Black Wattle for tanning. In 1873, a slab of Tooart, or White Gum, was exhibited, sawn from a log cut in 1862, and which had been lying exposed to sun and rain near Capel Bridge from that time; also four plates, and four-columns used in making a platform for the exhibition of the ores of the Colony: these were cut from piles which had been 33 years partly under water in the sea, and partly exposed, and all were still sound, and had resisted the attacks of the sea worm. A baulk of Karri timber had been in the wash of the tide at Augusta for 26 years and was still sound. It may therefore be safely asserted that few, if any, countries have a greater variety of valuable natural woods than West Australia.

In addition to these the Pine timber of the North-East coast is large and of good quality, and would supply logs, boards, and spars. Pine of smaller growth is also found in the Murchison district. Jarrah timber is placed on Lloyds' list of timbers for ship building in table A line 3, and, as it does not require sheathing, with these two timbers ship-building might become one of the most important and lucrative industries of the Colony (vide The timber trees of West Australia have less development of leaf than those of most other countries, and do not consequently afford the same amount of shade, or beauty of outline, but some of the larger, especially the Karri, Red Gum, and Peppermint, are very ornamental; and the Jam trees, when scattered over pastures, are not only extremely pleasing to the eye, but afford grateful shade.

The Black Boy, Grass trees, and Zamia are characteristic of the vegetation of West Australia; they are indigenous and connect the present flora with that of the carboniferous geological period, and may be described as built up of the successive vegetation of every year. The Black Boy, so named from its appearance, has the thicker and shorter stem with tuft-like rushes on the crown; the Grass tree is taller, thinner, and the tuft more grass-like. The Zamia is like a gigantic pine apple, with a crown of fronds like a palm tree. The Black Boy and Grass tree yield oils of carbon; and their crowns, which are composed of long rush-like grass, are used for thatching. Black Boy gum may be used with advantage for the same purposes as pitch, and will protect wood from the attack of the sea worm. Arrowroot can be made from the Zamia. Banksias and Wattles are also characteristic of Australian vegetation. West Australia does not possess native fruits of any importance, but there are some roots used by the natives for food which might prove worthy of cultivation if those introduced from Europe did not supersede them.

There are, however, plants which must be noted as more or less dangerous or fatal to sheep, cattle, horses, &c., eating them, and which are commonly known as the poison plants. Four of these are small shrubs.—The York road poison, which is the most common and most dangerous, the box, heart leaf and rock (the latter being found usually near granite), and the Kandinup poison, a small herbaceous plant with a blue flower, common near the South coast. The former are most dangerous in the spring of the year, especially after fires, when their green shoots tempt the cattle, or when proper food is scarce. They are easily distinguished from otherlants, and may be destroyed in enclosed lands.

The vegetation of the North is, of course, tropical, and has its own peculiar characteristics. Of these the gouty stemmed tree, in this similar to the Adansonia and to the Barriguda of Brazil, is remarkable for the swelling of the trunk, giving it a clumsy deformed appearance, yet it is valuable as affording fruit enclosed in a rind about the size of a cocoa nut; the seeds, closely resembling almonds, are very palatable, and commonly used by the natives for food; the hark yields a nutritious white gum which, Grey says, in taste and appearance resembles maccheroni, and which, when soaked in hot water, affords an agreeable mucilaginous drink. Fine trees fit for spars and timber grow on the hills, and in the gorges and ravines, through which the surface waters descend from them in clear and rapid streams. Lofty Eucalypti, with Paper Bark, and graceful pendent foliage, rise from a matted undergrowth, above which Pandanas and wild Nutmeg trees form a dense forest with rich grasses and climbing plants. The calamas or rattan is common on this coast, and leguminous plants are numerous, one at least of which is well known and cultivated in other parts of the Colony. Grey describes the trees in the valley of the Glenelg as the largest he had seen in Australia; and, from the fertility of the soil and abundance of water everywhere, there can be no doubt that rice, cotton, coffee, tobacco, and other valuable productions, with all useful tropical fruits and vegetables, might be cultivated there. The Pine forests would afford timber, boards, and spars, for use and exportation. There are also in the North vegetable fibres of bark and grass used by the natives for making lines and nets for fishing, and which are remarkable for toughness. The mangrove, which is found on all the shallow parts of the coast, supplies firewood, and is otherwise much utilized for domestic purposes.

All the fruits and vegetables of sub-tropical and temperate regions flourish when cultivated in the South-West parts of the Colony. The stone pine may be found by the side of the araucaria, and the apple by the loquat; but the vine, fig tree, olive, and orange, the almond and its congeners, seem peculiarly adapted to the soil and climate, as indeed are mulberry, tobacco, and cotton. The castor oil plant grows freely on rubbish, or in any neglected corner. The melon tribe, and all leguminous plants flourish in great luxuriance. Of the cereals wheat will not probably be found to flourish North of the Murchison, but maize may be cultivated throughout the Colony; in the South and West the rose and geranium are naturalized.

The native animals are the dog, a wolf-like animal with bushy tail, very destructive to sheep; the kangaroo, of which three species are found in the open woods, the thickets, and on the plains. The red kangaroo, a smaller kind, is found only among rocks so barren of vegetation as to make the means of its subsistence doubtful; the wallaby, a still smaller species, is found in the thickets near the coast and on the plains; the existence of wallaby on the Abrolhos, more than 30 miles from the coast, suggests the probability of depression, as well as upheaval of the coast line; the opossum is plentiful in the woodland districts.

Of reptiles the guana and lizard are found, with several species of snakes, both land and water, the bite of which is poisonous; and some, especially to the North, are constrictors.

The principal land birds of West Australia are the emu, the bush turkey, a species of bustard, the gnow, a gallinaceous bird remarkable for piling its eggs in a conical heap with leaves, and not sitting to hatch them. The great eagle hawk frequents the rocky cliffs and smaller birds of prey the rocky plains, cockatoos, black and white, parrots and parroquets, pigeons and quails are common, and in the North the pheasant cuckoo. The birds of the Colony are more remarkable for beauty of plumage than for their powers of song, yet the wattle birds and some others have melodious notes, but the bush is more often disturbed by the screeching of parrots, cockatoos, and magpies, and at night by the sad note of the weelow. The water birds are: the black swan, still numerous in some of the Southern waters of this Colony, formerly throughout it. The British Officers who first visited the Swan River were astonished at their number, but suggested that the time might come, as indeed it has already, when their absence would make it doubtful why the river should have been so named. The pelican, several species of duck, and many sea fowl frequent the coast and islands; to the North these are so numerous that there are large deposits of guano. Gallineaux are abundant in the Lake district, and sometimes migrate Westward, and there are several kinds of waders.

Fish are abundant in all the waters; mullet, bream, taylors, cobblers, schnappers, whiting, herring on the coasts and in the estuaries of the rivers; whales and seals are still found, though not so abundant as formerly; sharks are common, especially on the North coasts, where alligators are also said to be found occasionally; cray fish are abundant an all the coasts, and a small species in the fresh waters; oysters in many places; pearl oysters from. Sharks Bay, Northward, where also the dugong is found, a marine animal yielding oil of especially good quality, and having its skin of great thickness, and very valuable for making leather. The trepang or bèche-de-mer is abundant on the North coast.

If West Australia does not possess any great number or variety of useful native animals, her climate and vegetable productions are admirably suited to the life of those most useful to man; sheep, horses, cattle, goats, and pigs run wild when permitted, and, with the exception of sheep, have thus in some parts increased until they become a nuisance, and have to be destroyed; gallinaceous birds also thrive wild in the bush. In fine, there are none of the necessaries, and few of the luxuries of life which may not be produced with moderate care, labour, and expense in the Colony, few physical wants that are not already supplied, and more that might be. There are some natural pests in West Australia as in other countries: flies are the plague of the North, green ants of the sandstone ranges of the N.W., and mosquitoes near water throughout the Colony.

The mineral wealth of the Colony is undoubtedly very great. The precious metals have not yet been found in any considerable quantities, though gold has been in many places, as at Kendenup the upper valley of the Palinup, and near Glengarry on the Greenough, in quartz reefs, and at Peterwangy, on the Upper Irwin in alluvial deposits. Silver is found in some lead ores. Specimens of tin have been found, and it may probably be discovered in large quantities among the red granites of the interior. Coal, often searched for, and still more often reported, has not yet been found, though veins of lignites, and semi-bituminous substances have. The most important metals are lead and copper, the ores of which, especially the former, are abundant and widely diffused over the surface of the Colony from North to South, but are worked now only in the Champion Bay district; iron ores, specular and hæmatitic, are found in abundance in many places; salt is deposited in large quantities in the lakes of the interior, and the lagoons of the coast, and might be made a profitable article of export. In these, also, gypsum is found, as it is on the flats in the valleys of the sandstone ranges. Materials for building are abundant everywhere; in some districts clays for brick making, as well as finer sorts for pottery, and kaolin for porcelain, as also fire clay in others; various rocks, granitic, gneissose, siliceous, calcareous, and cretaceous, the latter for lime burning, are abundant on the coasts, and are found in many parts of the interior.

From the catalogue of natural productions given above, it will appear that there are abundant materials for capital in money and labor to be applied to their utilization, with profit on both. The returns of the principal exports, given in another place, indicate that many of these, and not the least valuable, are still unutilized; for example, many of the woods, the pine timber of the North especially; the rattan, which is imported; copper, which is abundant, but as yet little worked; many valuable sand, lime, and other stones; while the