Current:

Northern Star (1837-1852), 28th August 1852, Edition 1 of 2, Page 3, Untitled Article

Page 3
Page 3
3 of 16

On this page

  • Departments (1)
    • Stfom from % <$rf)r Jipijjs,
  • Text (5)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      The blackened hull of the Henry Clay has now been got out of the waterentrrely . Nothing having the appearance of the ashes of dead bodies was found . On Saturday the captain en r ^ st him S t 0 ^^ Clmrge ° nlausku S n ^ nding Fears are entertained of a general Indian war . A dispatch from \ \ ashmgton , dated August says : — ^ paron f f Tl ? ^ the UnitedStates tlie _ The blackened hull of the Henry ^ Clayha ^ o ^ b ^

      l ^ Z ^ , Army on frontiers of Texas , aud m New Mexico , to the War Denart inent , say a general Indian war is apprehended , and thev demand that the army be put in a war condition , with horses &e mthe Quartermasters Department . There is but little doubt this information is correct , and that Congress will act upon it by making much larger army appropriations than they would otherwise have made . The Camananches and other Indians are likely to give us a world of trouble . " a * .

      Untitled Article

      ^> - AUSTRALIA AND ITS WEALTH . ( Abridged from the British Quarterly Bemew ) . We have : often of late amused ourselves with imagining ; one ot our quiet plodding great-great grandfathers , of the prosperous times of George II ., falling asleep some hundred veais n ™ like the beauty in the fairy tale , and awaking , refreihedwith his long slumber some morning in the year 1852 . How overwhelming would be his astonishment at the many unheard-of , un-thought of objecis which on every hand would claim his notice Passing over the surprise which the altered appearance of the house , the furniture-above all , the many domestic appliances unknown a century ago-how would the very newspaper of the present day astound him !¦ These huge sheets , three times the , size ofthe London Journal or the Daily Advertiser over which perchance lie had fallen asleep—those ffiant ™* o < I

      What can they contain ? There is the report of the Money Markets , Consols Long Annuities , Bank Stock-these are iamihar enough ; but « Steam-boat Companies , " what are thev ? . Railway Snares , what are they ? " Mining Shares ;"—this 1 S more intelligible for our great-great grandfathers were not proof against the seductions of « mining property . " And then , the Anglo-California , '' the « Agua Fria , " the " Burra Burra , " the " Cobre Copper Mine , " the » South Australian , " where are these strangely-named mines ? to what countries do they belong ? But what are these closely-printed shipping advertisements column

      , filling after column in front of the large paper ? " Steam to Bombay , " » Steam to Calcutta "—Calcutta ! that small factory ; scarcely thought of until Colonel Clive went over and yet a dozen advertisements of steam vessels , and " line oi " packets" thither . And , " Direct to California , " " Steam to California , " that ultima thuk of Spanish America , scarcely known , even by name ! But what is this , strange as it must seem , to the two columns and a half of advertisements , all pointing to that unknown region , Australia ? " For Sidney direct " " for Adelaide direct , " " for Melbourne , Geelong , Port Phillip , Hobart Town , " and still Australia , Australia , meeting the eye in each . Australia ! what country can this be ? The Hudson

      Bay Company had lately sent home wondrous stories how far their enterprising hunters had penetrated into the ibnerican wildernesses ; and Lord Anson had , within the last few years , 11 put a girdle round the earth ; " but Australia—where can it be ? He turns to the map of the world , not " not the map of the world with the latest discoveries , " published by John Senex , in the year 1744 , with its wide wastes of ocean in the south , and "terra incognita" inscribed on regions where now are populous cities—nay , where steam and the rail find a place ; nay , not to that well-worn old map , for it is useless now , but to Wyld ' s . Truly , if he has slumbered , the spirit of discovery has not . Look at these countless cities , stretching westward , into the

      American wilderness , beyond the boundary of the Mississi j ^ i \ Look at the clusters of island studding the South Pacific ! Look at that fifth continent , that new found world in the far south , our very antipodes . This is Australia , and thither are thousands flocking , for Australia could yield a home to the surplus populasi pn of all Europe , and still present wide tracts of fertile land crying aloud for tillers of her fields , and reapers of her abundant harvests !

      A singular land is Australia ; fertile , healthful , and , in many parts , beautiful ; but still , as though in right of its antipodal position , looking very much like the world turned upside down to the European visitant . Eow different are its indigenous productions , animal and vegetable ; how strange its kangaroo , its omithoryncus , and that paradox of Horace , its black swan ! Its gum-tree forests , too , with " the foliage so thin and pendulous , that when the sun is overhead , one rides through the bush almost as utterly unsheltered as if there had been no trees : "

      contrasted with those which were a kind of myrtle , near two hundred feet high , and twenty or thirty in girth , and cast so deep a shadow at noontide , that " it was literally the nemorem nodem of the poet" But what are those to " the absolute inversion of the seasons in these Austral portions of the globe ?* As our pleasant traveller Colonel Mundy remarks , " brimful of home associations , how strange it is to find May-day , the festival of young Flora , falling in autumn , and to see Jiick-in-the Green dancing about , clothed m the sere and yellow leaf . Guy Faux looks terribly out of season , and out of countenance , toiling through the streets ( as 1 saw him doing on the 5 th of

      November , 1848 ) in a terrific sirocco of hot wind and dust , with the thermometer at 100 in the shade . But , above all , Christ mas ! Sitting in a thorough draft , clad in a Holland blouse , you may see men and boys dragging from the neighbouring hush piles of green stuff ( oak branches in full leaf and acorn , and a handsome shrub , with a pink flower and a pale green leaf , the' Christmas' of Australia ) for the decoration of churches and dwellings , stopping every fifty yards to wipe their perspiring brows . " This is whimsical enough ; but it really appears as though a revised edition of the poets , ancient as well as modern , "will be needed for Australia .

      The climate of New South Wales and of Western and Southern Australia as well , is , however , very fine . There are few cloudy days , and none of that uncertainty of weather which so greatly diminishes the pleasures of an English summer . To use the ¦ words of our lively traveller , " A fine day is a matter of course ; sunshine is the rule , clouds the exception ; " and , strangely , too , no one appears to fear the sun , even at midsummer . Masons

      and bricklayers , exposed to its full blaze for eight or ten hours a day , seem to suffer little inconvenience . The drought and the consequent dry , parching air , are the greatest drawbacks ! hut " still it is a glorious climate ; glorious in its visible beauty , glorious in its freedom from lethal disorders ; priceless in respect to this latter feature , in the eyes of those who have known what it is to serve in countries where death multiform rides on the

      wind , lurks in the forest or swamp , or riots in the crowded city . " Whatever may be the comparative prosperity of the towns , in a new country like Australia , it is the country that offers the chief sources of abuudand wealth , and for this—

      Untitled Article

      + pi , ^ nn scatt er , inelegant as it may appear , is an official warn m thiscolony . But it is applied to a different class from inat to which it belongs in America , ' whence it is borrowed , me squatter of America is generally a small farmer or labourin man , with as much capital as he can carry in an old stocking , vj no , wandering beyond the limits of the district surveyed by feoveinment , and consequently open to sale , he sat down , or squatted , on wild land , as the buffalo or the mouse might do , ill 1 g ! 'eat a nSht > and Sreatei \ to its occupancy , and no more liable to destraintfor rent than his neihbour

      quadruped g on the Fame . As the frontier of the state extends , and the surveyor approaches his 'farm , ' the squatter either removes to fresh Qiggms , or , taking advantage of the right of preemption , puichases for the fixed price of a dollar and a quarter an acre , tn S i s 01 % ISmal squattage as he may need or can afford to make Ins own . I have lodged with an American thus situated near the head-quarters of the Mississippi . His hut , » uiit ot substantial logs , cut from the ' oak-opening ' or grove , on the edge of which he was located , looked over a wide expanse oi roiling prairie as far as the eye could rangedotted onlv with

      , occasional clumps of timber . ° ' r li ** ! - fds ' therefoi > e > however far dispersed , were still within ms ken , and needed no further care than that of himself and sons . How different from the forest pastures of Ausuana . He was but twenty-two miles from a navigable lake , communicating with the St . Lawrence , and the same distance iroin Ins market , a small frontier town Such are the squatters this colon ^> ' SUCl 1 WCre S ° ° f the ° rigillal S ( * uattm 0 ± But in Australia , at

      present—, , For the purposes of sqatting , the waste lands ( a term very improperl y and imprudently given to the splendid territorial inheritance held by the crown , as trustee for the public ) are divided into three classes of the settled , the intermediate , and the unsettled districts . In the settled , the lease is enioyableiorone year only ; in the intermediate , for eight yearsm the unsettled , or ultra-frontier lands , for fourteen years , The Tl ? *} Ll l * TT *?* ( P > ca P ^ <* carrying 4 , 000 sheep 640 head of cattle

      , or or horses . The runs are not open to purchase during the lease , except by the lessee . On the expiration of a lease , it is competent for government to put irn all or any part of the land for sale , the lessee havimr the right ot pre-emption at its fair value , which shall never be loss than £ 1 per acre . The assessment on stock is 3 ^ d . for horses , Ud torcattie , - | d for sheep per head The English reader must understand that the lessees of crown lands , the squatters , are debarred by law from cultivating any part of their runs , except tor the consumption of their families and establishments .

      Immense tracts , therefore , must remain untenanted by the plough and contmueto be primeval deserts . " ' Although it seems difficult to understand why agriculture on a large scale should be thus prohibited , the advantages to the Australian colonies from the consequent extension of what our author calls " the pastoral interests , " have been great . " The honour of originating the Australian wool trade is due to Mr John Macarthur , " who , going to England about 1803 . disnlavp . fl

      samples of wool grown by himself in New South Wales , to some brokers , and " who , foreseeing the advantages to be derived from so important a branch of commerce , obtained for him a special grant of land , and a number of assigned servants » lnus was laid the foundation of what bids fair to become the staple of the colony , the Australian wool trade . The English reader , accustomed to the limited farming of his native land , must feel astounded at the gigantic scale of the farming establisnments here , especially of the sheep-owners . I he proprietor of Coombing—an elegant country seat , with a fine back-ground of hills , weeded to their summit—Mr . My , has an estate consisting of 50 , 000 acres , " with hundreds of

      thou-I ? nn i a . cres of P asturc reiltecl from the crown , 25 , 000 sheep o , 000 head of cattle , and some 300 horses ; " while " there are about 46 milesof substantial three-railed fencing on the property ! " This immense establishment is , however , outdone by that of Mr . Clark , who was originally a butcher at Sydney . " In Van Dieinen ' s Land , he has already purchased 50 , 000 acres , part from the crown , and part from private persons , lnis season he informed me he had sheared , in New South Wales , 90 , 000 , and in Van Diemen ' s Land , 40 , 000 sheep , and had sent to England this year 1 , 500 bales of wool , which at £ 20 a bale , gives £ 30 , 000 In the shearing season he is compelled to collect at his head stations , about fifty or sixty roving roaring , rowdy blades—wild hands when idle , but good at a ' clip . ' On these occasions he takes care to be present himself . "

      The fine quality of the Australian wool may be judged from the statement , that Mr . Clarke had sent home a fleeee weighing 27 lbs ., the growth of as many months , from one sheep , the staple of which was 21 inches long . The proprietor of " Salisbury Court "—how English , indeed how old English , is this name— " a true grazier grandee of New South Wales , " also employs about a huddred pair of hands , pays in wages and rations not less than £ 3 , 000 , and was in 1851 assessed for 90 , 000 sheep . Although , as may be fairly supposed , there are not many

      Australian settlers possessing such more than patriarchal wealth in flocks and herds , still the general amount of the sheep at the stations , as they are called , judging from advertisements , seem to ^ range from 6 , 000 to 15 , 000 . Renting the sheep with or without the pastures , is growing into a common practice , especially in this colony , Victoria . The lesee pays so much per annum for 1 , 000 sheep ( £ 50 to £ 80 say ) . He gets the wool and the increase of the flocks ; and , at the termination of the lease he delivers back thp , station wi + li + > ip > of ™ i- nmioi in n ™ lease he delivers back the station with the stockequal in

      , condition , age , and numbers . At prcsci : f . the price of a good sheep station , with the stock upon it , including the run and the premises , appears to be about 10 s . ahead . Sheep , however , have been sold as low as Is . 6 d . a head , but Colonel Mundy considers the standard minimum value now to be 4 s . or 5 s . It is in this district that sheep-farming appears to be carried on with the greatest success . The natives are rarely troublesome ; indeed , in some cases they have . been employed as shepherds for four or five years past , and at one station have had charge oi

      6 , 000 sheep . " The native dog has been nearly extirpated by the liberal use of strychnine , and instead of the old practice of yarding the sheep at night , they are now encamped round the the hut of the stockman . A grand saving in wages is thus made ; for one man , or an old couple , can take charge of one or two thousand sheep . In another portion of his work Col . Munday tells us that the habit of engaging married couples for " the bush , " as shepherds or herd-keepers , is growing rapidly into use , for even children are found of service in carrying rations to the men in charge of the flocks . The wages in 1851

      were high ; £ lo to £ 25 for shepherds , stockmen , and draymen , while watchmen and hut-keepers—offices which might well be filled by men too old for severe labour—obtained £ 15 per annum . The usual ration is lOlbs . meat , lOlbs . bread , pb . tea , and fib . sugar per week . During the busy season a handsome addition is made to their wages ; lodging is always gratis , and

      Untitled Article

      where milk is plentiful , a supply is furnished to them . Hie shepherds of Australia , it may well be supposed , are not Arcadian" either in their tastes or habits . " The shepherds ™ 7 ? n ** 8 to ^™ Pastures by day , and bring them home at nig it . lhe hut-keeper cooks for the men , receives the sheep at mg it , and is answerable for them until the next morning . " In ?^ ?\ " fl has led out his flee ( y cIiar Se > sits lazily enough in the shade , not of a " spreading beech , " but of a gum I f ^ T ™ ^ W-T ^ t » , if ho be able to obtain itsV £ S TT ° tohacco-but more generally amusing XI 7 w ? T " ° , Jew ' 8 har P *> 5 > HlHm . The sale , ^ " ^^ *» mustaColonel Mundy tells

      . Tew ^ l ffimeT" fiVG ^ r" ilCCOTdions > ™ l fiftv g oss of a 5 pi h J | l " i T idei < ed 8 maU tovestiente bv oncTvessel . i&SrJfth T- . waIk f hundl-cd miles fl ™ distant btation of the interior to purchase one of lhem at the nearest township » This " piping life of the sheplSis how-2 S " y the cattle-keeper , who , moused on ' a spirited horse , rides for many miles through the bush for the purpose of collecting the herds . This employment wWch Zs somewhat ot the excitement of the chassis a very favourite one , not only with the men , but actually with thrfr L 2 ° " 7 v T Ly w n ine men > ™ actually with their masters

      , y . W v \ 7 a 6 s i ocki ; m 11 h r his chiii strapped , cabbage-tree hat , his bearded and embrowned visage , his keen , quiet eye . The symbol of his peculiar trade is the sheep-whi p-Ythick bu tapering thong of twelve or fourteen feet , weighing perhaps a couple Of pounds , affixed to a handle of afoot and alXS ' st At the end of this cruel lash is a ' cracker , ' generally made of a twisted piece of silk handkerchief . The \ vtlemeJectes for miles with the cracks of this terrible scourge , which are fully as loud as the report of a gun . . . . f have seen a pewter quart pot all but cut in two by one flank of the sheep whip . " Much attention is to cattle

      paid , and also to horses , many of which are sent to India , and bring a good price . As there is in Aubtaaha " no artificial or stored-up food for winter , or bad seasons , as m Europe , " and as drought often tries the settler , ™ S ™ T / f ° V toli ns d ? ^ Mshuients" in most of the H \\ Ti i ^" S ' 7 « d y ^ P . ' sometimes even cattle , are i ^ nv n if 1 liead and fl . esIly Portions being thrown away the S 7 ? P ^ d m / CCeS and tluwvn ™ to large iron vats , ™ S ' r taim r " ? ! 610 24 oxcn > OT tt «* times the iZwfti ^ P i f ^ fftt is boUed outBkimmedoff in o buckets , and poured thence into casks , which ' are shipped St ^ tZh 185 V ° 1 leSSthan 743 < *« ¥ «» d 45 , 000 cattle ; ere thus sacrificed ; product 160 , 000 cwt . oftalow .

      countiymen should have been thus comparatively wasted ! Ve ; may mention , ere passing on , that in South Australia , olive o ? , lf ^ r « ( ! ! ° m 1 ^ article of tl < ade > id a ** verV suc-Zfl m ? 5 * f l ^ the Vhie hftve been ™ in jaiious parts ; indeed , there seems little doubt but that in a few years Australia together with her other produce , will sup us with a very excellent dinner wine . ^ [ To U continued . )

      Untitled Article

      nJo v « n ? T \ ? r ) Wl f are selected from Australian papeia of recent dates , supply a considerable amount of infor-SSi « S roYeuseM t 0 hltendillg emi »«« - BELL'S CREEK , BRAID WOOD . Bell ' s Flat ( the private property part of it ) is turning out very well , and I « calculate" some parties there will make nice fortunes he

      . I other parts of the creek are being a second time dug up , and many companies are doing well . There are some claims turning out their old quantities from 20 oz . to 50 oz a day , and appear to be almost inexhaustible . The dry digffings are yielding remunerative returns , and as some of them require but little labour , they are very suitable for weak parties . The furor in favour of the Little River has deprived us of some of our stores , producing a state of things not very agreeable , but we hope to be again rc-visited by " the old familiar fao . os" tlmt

      supplied us with the necessaries of life . My mates are calling me to help them to bale out the hole— " All hands to the pump , " I must therefore sav , adieu .

      THE LITTLE RIVER . The diggings here are not turning out as successful as was at nrst anticipated . Nuggetty Point is worked out , but there are some parties doing a fair stroke in a blind creek close to it As tar as I can ascertain , the average yield of companies of three and four-it usually takes the latter number to work claims—is about an ounce a-day .

      TURON . To estimate the pecuniary loss to the Turon diggers of such floods as the last and the previous one is impossible . A number ot the race diggers have betaken themselves to the Wallaby Rocks , where , with long-handled shovels , they scoop out the dnft matter from the bed of the creek , and make moderate earnings . Others occupy themselves washing the upper earth of their claims , which under other circumstances would be deemed too poor to pay . The fresh deposit from the hills is in

      some instances paying tolerably well , the average earnings , so tar as we can ascertain , being from three-fourths to one ounce per day to each party . Another place has been recently discovered , now known as the Poor Man ' s Point , of which we record the singular fact , that whilst a digging party have been making from 30 to 40 ozs ., and in one case as much as 52 ozs per day , no other claim has been opened which would remunerate the labour expended upon it . One thing appears pretty

      evident from the vp . fp , n +. flicpmroinoc . nnTOnn „„ £ . „ .. il . * _ J evident from the recent discoveries , as well as from the circum stance that every flood brings with it a new deposit from the hills that not only are the Turon diggings not exhausted , but that the Turon country is not thoroughly explored .

      Stfom From % &Lt;$Rf)R Jipijjs,

      Stfom from % < $ rf ) r Jipijjs ,

      Untitled Article

      J ^^! : _ Jim STAR f OF FREEDOM . 35 = :==:= ======== ~ =

      Untitled Article

      & _ Another Swindler prom Ham .-A few days ago , at the Mansion House , Wm . Titos . Jmjram , an elderly man , who resides at West Ham , was brought before the Lord Mayor , charged with having defrauded Mr . Thomas Hall , of No . 103 , ¦ rashopsgate-street , linendraper and haberdasher , of goods to the amount of £ 58 10 s . 4 ^ d . Mr . Lloyd , the solicitor to the prose * cutorin

      , briefly stating the circumstances , which were borne out by evidence , represented that the property had been obtained under the false pretence that the prisoner was a contractor and a creditor to the government , and that he was about to receive the immediate payment of a large sum of money due to him irom the Board of Ordnance , there being no pretence whatever for making such a statement . The prisoner , who said he would show the matter in quite a different light , was the n roma-nded

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 28, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1693/page/3/