Early Days in North Queensland Part 10

All natives acknowledge the same system of cla.s.s divisions, and these correspond all over Australia. The blacks are born into these divisions, and the idea is instilled into them from the beginning that they are to observe them as sacred.

Though differing in name or in totem, the cla.s.ses and divisions prevail everywhere, and a blackfellow knows at once which of the divisions corresponds to his own in a distant tribe.

All things in Nature are divided into the same cla.s.ses, and are said to be male and female; the sun, moon, and stars are believed to be men and women, and to belong to cla.s.ses similar to the blacks themselves.

The following is an instance of the system of cla.s.s divisions belonging to a tribe on the Upper Flinders River, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, calling themselves "Yerrunthully." They had four cla.s.s divisions, namely:--

Male marries Female. Children are

Bunbury ... Woonco ... Coobaroo Coobaroo ... Koorgielah ... Bunbury Koorgielah ... Coobaroo ... Woonco Woonco ... Bunbury ... Koorgielah

Each boy and girl in the tribe is born under one of these divisions, and is subjected to the laws, connected with tribal marriages. These cla.s.ses are represented by totems, which are different in other tribes lower down the river:--

Bunbury Carpet Snake Tharoona

Coobaroo { Brown Snake Warrineyah { Emu Gooburry

Koorgielah { Plain Turkey Bergamo { Native Dog Cubburah

Woonco Whistling Duck Chewelah

Many other instances could be given, but they all partake of the same divisions and cla.s.ses. A blackfellow can only marry into one cla.s.s, namely that opposite to his name, the other three are forbidden to him strictly. The descent seems to be reckoned through the mother, for the child takes its name, not from its mother's cla.s.s, but from the grandmother's cla.s.s. The cla.s.s name always goes back to that of the grandmother on the female side, the father's cla.s.s name having no influence in the matter. Woonco's daughter is always Coobaroo, and Coobaroo's daughter is always Woonco, and so on through succeeding generations. The father might possibly be of a name representing the proper cla.s.s, but from a far away tribe, for they correspond in cla.s.s though not always in name; still the children take their name through the mother in this tribe. The blacks understand these relations.h.i.+ps well, and exemplify them with two sticks crossed.

CHAPTER XII.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

The annual reports issued by the Water Supply Department of Queensland give detailed accounts of the annual and average rainfall over the whole of the colony, with the results of boring for artesian water, both privately and by Government. It is one of the most valuable and interesting reports issued, and with the rain maps accompanying it, conveys in a moment an accurate estimate of the average rainfall both on the coast and in the far interior. Beginning at Mackay, where the tropical rains commence, and following the coast line to Cape York, the record is higher than anywhere else in the colony, owing to the near approach of the high ranges to the coast. The maximum rainfall recorded in one year is reported at Geraldton, where 211.24 inches fell in 1894; Cairns can boast of 174.56 inches as its highest rainfall; this occurred in 1886. At Cape York, the average is 60.87; and at Mackay, 72.73 inches; these numbers give a general indication of the humidity of the climate on the east coast of North Queensland. As we advance into the interior a far different climate prevails, and the farther west we go, the lighter becomes the rainfall, till it would almost appear as if it scarcely ever rained in some places in the interior, which are not much raised above the level of the sea. At Birdsville, low down on the Diamantina River, on the borders of South Australia, the rainfall taken for three years, amounted to only 5.72 inches, and on the Mulligan, where for six years an average was taken, it amounted to only 5.77 inches. At Boulia, on the Burke River, the average for nine years was 13.54 inches.

Between these extremes of great dryness and excessive moisture, the intervening country shows a graduated increase or decrease as one approaches or recedes from the eastern coast. As very few water-ways exist to carry off surplus water, the drainage being often imperceptible to the eye, this seems a merciful dispensation of Nature, as under such conditions any great rainfall would place the whole country under a sea of water long enough for all animal life to become extinct. The water that flows down the usually dry channels of the western rivers southwards comes from the Gulf watershed, where the rainfall is much heavier, averaging at Cloncurry 20.80 inches. The amount of rainfall determines largely the nature of the fauna and flora of a country, and causes it to vary, even in the same lat.i.tudes. Between the high coastal districts and the vast rolling plains and downs of the interior these differences are so marked and distinct that they seem like two separate countries; climate, timber, herbage, and even animal life are so different in the two regions that it seems extraordinary such contrasts should exist in the same lat.i.tude in one country. All along the east coast, where the rainfall is heavy, we find forests of splendid hardwood and scrubs containing cedar and pine of gigantic growth. In the interior, the timber is as a rule dwarfed, hollow, and crooked; the princ.i.p.al timbers being the acacia family, such as the gidya, myall, brigalow, boree, etc. The gra.s.ses of the interior adapt themselves to the climate, and are of a far hardier growth than the coast gra.s.ses; one season without moisture does not impare their wonderful vitality; the salt bushes are the hardiest of all vegetation in the interior, and are of the greatest value to pastoralists. Birds are found on the coast that never visit the interior districts; while the galas and corellas are never found in a wild state near the coast. During the wet season in the summer months many seabirds migrate to the interior for a few weeks.

Accompanying the report of the Hydraulic Engineer is a coloured map showing the sites of artesian bores and tanks and the supposed area of the lower cretaceous or water-bearing strata, as well as the underlying impermeable palaeozoic rocks. The whole of Western Queensland may be said to belong to the lower cretaceous formation; here and there, where it has not been denuded by the action of the atmosphere, the desert sandstone may be found overlaying it. The whole of this vast area of water-bearing rocks has been proved by artesian bores, most of which are far below the level of the sea. The knowledge of the area of the water-bearing country in the interior is extending as additional bores are put down. Some of the bores within the known belt of the water area have been abandoned owing to causes that may be generally cla.s.sified as accidents.

The Government have sunk a number of wells, while hundreds of flowing bores that now stud the great western country have been put down by private enterprise. The policy of the Government has been to determine the area within which artesian water may be hopefully searched for, and to provide water in arid country or on stock routes, and excellent results have attended the carrying out of this policy. The Winton bore is down in the lower cretaceous beds 4,010 feet, it gives a flow of 720,000 gallons of water a day, at a temperature of 192 degs.; the surface level is 600 feet above the sea; it will take about 8,000 to cover the total cost of sinking, etc. The Charleville bore has the largest flow of any Government bore, giving 3,000,000 gallons in the twenty-four hours, but some bores on Tinenburra, on the Warrego River, give as much as 4,000,000 gallons. About 800 private bores have been sunk in search of artesian water in the western area of Queensland; of these 515 give a total output of 322 millions of gallons in the twenty-four hours, and the total cost of them amounted to nearly 2,000.000. This expenditure made within sixteen years, is creditable to the energy and forethought of the western settlers. Some of the bores are not overflowing, and the water is raised by pumping, though the supply is inexhaustible. By the flow of water thus brought to the surface, the devastating effects of the periodical droughts have been minimised, and large areas have become available to profitable occupation that previously were waste country. The flow of this artesian water from the private and public bores is worth more to Queensland than a river of gold. They have completely changed the face of the country, and removed the anxiety of the stock owners towards the end of the season, when all surface water (except the most permanent lagoons) has dried up and formed mud traps to catch all weak stock that venture near them. These tiny perforations of the earth's surface have helped to solve the difficulty of settlement on the western lands, where we find the rainfall diminis.h.i.+ng as we go further west. As these little threads of water find their way across the plains and form into small ponds in the hollows, the wildfowl resort to them as if they were natural waters, while the bulrushes (typha angustifolia), soon follow and grow in ma.s.ses, although these are only to be found round springs, and never in permanent lagoons or rivers. Some curious features are connected with the artesian water supply; sometimes the temperature is very high, that of the Dagworth bore reaching 196 degrees, while the pressure of the Thargomindah bore is over 230 lbs. to the square inch. The water supply tapped is perhaps beyond calculation, and up to the present time there is no indication of exhaustion.

The source of this enormous pressure of water that is capable of sending a jet over a hundred feet above the surface, is still unexplained, and many theories are afloat as to its origin; some of these go far afield for reasons for the great supply and strong pressure. The enormous rainfall on the coast ranges, where the intake probably occurs, and where the impermeable rocks approach the surface, carrying the water under the lower cretaceous, or more recent formation (which is shown to be the most extensive in Western Queensland), seems to be the most reasonable to adopt at the present time. These water-bearing strata must cover very large areas in Australia, for a bore at Tarcanina, near the south coast on the Great Australian Bight, is down over 1,000 feet below the level of the sea, and throws the water to a great height above the surface.

Mr. R. L. Jack, the Government Geologist, in a paper on artesian water in the western interior of Queensland read before the Australian a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science, in Brisbane, January, 1895, argues in a most convincing manner as to the source of artesian supplies of water, giving the intake or gathering ground at about 55,000 square miles, over a region where the mean average rainfall taken at thirteen meteorological stations along the line of outcrop, amounts to 27 inches annually, which is considerably greater than that of the interior of the downs country. The greater part of the rainfall is not carried away by the channels of the rivers, neither is it evaporated, but sinks through porous strata into the earth, and does not return except through springs or submarine leakage. The fact of all this great supply of water finding its way to the sea at great depths, shows what little effect a few bores can have on the enormous annual supply. It is an encouragement to extend the number of bores, which are so necessary to successfully settle the arid plains of the distant interior, in order to antic.i.p.ate the waste of water.

The fact of an artesian bore diminis.h.i.+ng its flow may be due to many causes other than shortage of supply, faults in the tubing or caving in of the strata may account for it. We have here the secret of successful settlement in inland Australia--an inexhaustible supply of water fit for all the wants of man.

The Normanton bore, practically on the edge of the Gulf, and sunk from a level of about 30 feet above the sea, struck artesian water at a depth of 1,983 feet, or 1,950 feet below sea level. This bore and the one at Burketown, both of which were successful in reaching artesian water, were put down by the Government during the time Mr. G. Phillips represented Carpentaria in the Legislative a.s.sembly, 1893-5.

THE GRa.s.sES AND FODDER PLANTS.

An enumeration of all the fodder plants and herbage common to North Queensland would require a long catalogue, as variety is Nature's law in this case, and the western soil teems after the wet season with flowers, herbs, gra.s.ses, and fruits all more or less adapted for use as fodder.

The prospect on the wide spreading plains after the early thunder showers in November and December is very refres.h.i.+ng to the eye that has been for months staring on the dry stalks of the Mitch.e.l.l gra.s.s, or else on the brown bare earth. Trailing vines of the melon and cuc.u.mber family spread themselves in profusion, the fruit of which is eagerly sought after by stock. Convolvolus flowers and vines grow among the young green gra.s.ses, and many varieties of the compositae show in bright yellow their gleaming flowers, mingled with hibiscus of every hue. The growth of plant life is marvellous after the fall of soft rain on the warm rich soil. Portulaca, known as pigweed, is among the first of the plants to spring up, and grows in great ma.s.ses; the seeds form a princ.i.p.al article of food for the birds that frequent the plains, the young plants are also used by stock, and are not despised by man in an emergency. All life, vegetable and animal, revives suddenly after the surface of the earth has been saturated with the life-giving element; frogs and locusts sing their songs of joy day and night; flies increase beyond conception, and mosquitoes and sandflies torment to distraction both man and beast.

On the plains, the first vegetation to spring up is the sensitive plant, spreading its delicate foliage over the surface, the leaves closing during the heat of the day, and opening in the evening. The small creeping plant said to be poisonous to stock (Euphorbia Drummondi), appears immediately after rain. The climbing vine (Capparis lucida), which bears a sub-acid fruit not unlike pa.s.sion fruit, at this time of year gives out its white flowers and fruit at the same time. The scent of the innumerable flowers on the plains, the tender herbage, the young gra.s.ses sending their seed stalks several feet high, and all the soil covered densely with vegetation and herbage suitable for stock present a picture to the eye, so utterly opposed to that which prevailed but a few weeks before the advent of the rains, that the spectator can scarcely believe it to be the same country. The seeds of some plants will remain dormant for years, and then suddenly spring up in profusion; for instance, the plant commonly known as peabush, a leguminous annual (botanically Sesbania aegyptica), has only a periodical growth, and at such times, varying for many years, it covers the plains in such rank ma.s.ses that the stockriders get quite bewildered when searching for stock through its scrublike density; for several years after this abundant growth, the plant will scarcely be noticeable; it is said that every three years is a peabush year, but the writer cannot support the theory, as he can only call to mind four or five really bad peabush seasons in a period of thirty years. The seeds which fall to the ground in great quant.i.ties form the sustenance for flocks of pigeons and other birds, but much seed must also fall down the cracks of the earth and bide their time for a chance of springing into life. The flowers of this plant grow in lilac and yellow on the same stalk. Cattle are fond of it when young, and mustering stock in a peabush year has many extra difficulties on account of the prolific growth of this intermittent annual. It will sometimes grow to a height of fifteen feet, and in swampy places is so dense that it is difficult to keep even a few horses in sight when driving through it; after it dries and the seeds fall to the ground, the stalks break off, and the sweep of the water over the plains during the succeeding year gathers these dry stems against the trees in enormous ma.s.ses like small haystacks, and there they remain until a bushfire reduces them to ashes. The ma.s.ses of peabush carried down creeks and watercourses at certain seasons will yet prove a source of danger to railway and road bridges when such structures come to be built on the western plains comprising the watersheds of rivers flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Though peabush grows strongly on flooded ground, it can be found of a st.u.r.dy growth on ridges or high plains or downs during a favourable year, especially where water lodges between ridges. It is an ancient and historical plant, for the flowers that composed the wreath found on an Egyptian mummy of ancient date, when softened and opened with warm water, were found to be identical with the flowers of the peabush of the Flinders River and western plains of North Queensland.

The native pastures have not been improved by the introduction of stock; the evils of overstocking and the want of bushfires to keep down the under-growth, have in some districts deteriorated or exterminated some of the best of the fodder gra.s.ses. The best of all indigenous gra.s.ses is known as Mitch.e.l.l gra.s.s, a perennial of strong growth, and capable of resisting the driest weather; there are many varieties of this gra.s.s, which is found only on the plains and downs of the interior. It possesses the faculty of shooting green from the old stalks at the joints, and taking up moisture, renewing its youth again. The Mitch.e.l.l gra.s.s grows in isolated strong bunches, and its presence is a sure sign of a fattening country. The following are the best known varieties:--

"Astrebla pectinata," common Mitch.e.l.l gra.s.s, growing in erect tussocks of two or three feet high.

"A. triticoides," wheat-eared Mitch.e.l.l gra.s.s; this plant is taller and coa.r.s.er than the last, attaining a height of four or five feet.

"A curvifolia," or curly Mitch.e.l.l gra.s.s; plant forming erect tufts one or two feet high, the leaves narrow and much curved.

"A. elymoides," weeping Mitch.e.l.l gra.s.s; plant dec.u.mbent, the stems several feet long.

The blue gra.s.s (Andropogon sericeus), is an annual of soft rapid growth, with a branching seed-stalk that breaks off and is blown by the wind in ma.s.ses into waterholes; the blacks use the fine seeds of this gra.s.s for food.

"Anthistiria membranacea," called the Flinders or Barcoo gra.s.s, is an annual of a reddish colour, found all over the western plains. It is soft and brittle, breaking easily off to fall on the ground, when stock will pick it up; it makes excellent hay, keeping sweet for years, and is one of the most fattening gra.s.ses.

The varieties of the indigenous gra.s.ses that cover the great western plains are innumerable; all are more or less eaten by stock, even the triodia or spinifex that is looked on as a desert gra.s.s, and of a formidable and forbidding nature. Spinifex is a very drought-resisting plant, and in times of great scarcity and extreme drought, when all other gra.s.ses have dried out and been blown away, the spinifex is there with its erect spiney leaves, possibly bitter to the taste, but still life sustaining to stock, as has been proved in many a severe drought.

It grows on sandy sterile ridges, and seems to adhere to the latest geological formation, the sandstone or cainozoic period; it is found on ridges adjacent to alluvial flats where the richest herbage and gra.s.ses are found in abundance.

Kangaroo gra.s.s (Anthistiria ciliata), is found mostly in coastal districts, and although a good pasture gra.s.s when green, it soon dries and requires burning.

There are two prominent varieties of spear gra.s.s in the north, the worst being the black spear gra.s.s (Andropogon contortus), which grows in sandy spots along the banks of creeks, or on sandy ridges; it is not of much use as a fodder gra.s.s, but becomes a terrible scourge to sheep when ripe and seeding. The seeds are barbed, and as sharp as needles, and having once entered the skin they work into the bone, causing intense annoyance and irritation, and ultimately death. The other spear gra.s.s (Andropogon Kennedeyii), not so dangerous, but of little use to stock, is a coa.r.s.e-growing, strong gra.s.s, seven or eight feet high, with a reddish bloom, and strong seeds that penetrate saddlecloths and clothes in countless hundreds.

Herbage fills the s.p.a.ces between the tufts of gra.s.ses soon after the rains, and the plains develop a dense growth of pasturage; but after continued dry seasons, all herbage disappears, and the gra.s.ses follow in time, until very little is left except the roots, and a few of the more hardy salsolaceous plants. These form a striking feature in the economy of Nature in the plain country, the salt bushes are ever present in one variety or another, and help to keep stock in health and condition. The various species of "Atriplex" abound, and being very drought-resisting, they are reckoned amongst the most valuable fodder plants. Sir Thomas Mitch.e.l.l was the first to make salt bush known after his first expedition over sixty years ago.

"A. Nummularia," pa.s.sing under the curious vernacular of "Old Man Salt Bush," is truly grey enough. Some of these plants have been propagated in north-west America with great success, turning the barren alkali lands that were never known to grow anything, into valuable pastures.

Tons of seeds are raised annually for Utah, Arizona, and other States.

In Africa the salt bushes are cultivated from seeds and even cuttings, and their value is acknowledged everywhere. They endure scorching heat, live without rains, are eaten by all kinds of stock, proving nutritious and wholesome to them, are easily raised from seed, and can, with a little care, be propagated from cuttings.

The blue bush (Chenopodium), is common all over the Gulf of Carpentaria watershed, growing in swampy spots where water lies; it is a great favourite with all kinds of stock, and is getting scarce owing to its being eaten out so much.

Wild rice (Oryza sativa), grows in swampy places throughout the Gulf country; the grain is well-defined, but small; all stock are fond of it, when green; it grows to a height of three or four feet. The rice of commerce is the produce of cultivated varieties of this gra.s.s.

Edible shrubs are extremely plentiful, and are of great value when gra.s.s becomes too dry to be nutritive. A peculiar feature in the vegetation of the western plains is the "roley-poley," which is called in America the "tumble weed." This is an annual of quick growth after rains, growing in a spherical form from a common root; when the stem dries, it breaks off close to the ground, and the ball of dried vegetation is driven by the winds over the plains at a furious rate, topping the fences, and piling up against them in ma.s.ses. It causes the greatest consternation to horses as it is driven across the downs. It possesses no virtue as a fodder plant.

FOSSILS OF ANCIENT AUSTRALIA.

The Australian continent has undergone great changes during the past geological ages, and most probably has been connected in remote times with part of Asia, and not unlikely with South America by some now submerged land. But whatever the connection may have been in the very distant past, it has been shut off from the larger northern land ma.s.ses at so remote a period that the higher forms of mammals have not found their way to it, as in Africa and South America. Great changes have taken place in the continent itself. It is supposed that, at one time, in what is called the cretaceous or chalk age, a great sea spread from the north right across from what is now the Gulf of Carpentaria, covering immense tracts of level plain country in the interior of Australia, including Western Queensland, and part of New South Wales, so that the western half of the continent was separated from the eastern at least in the northern parts. Gradually the land rose and great lakes were formed in the interior, especially in the region of Lake Eyre, and a growth of vegetation sprang up of a more luxuriant type than is to be found now in those western parts, otherwise the enormous animals, such as the giant diprotodon, huge extinct kangaroos, birds larger than the moa, as well as crocodiles and turtles, could never have found sustenance to multiply in such numbers as their fossil remains testify they did in nearly every part of central Australia, and in the interior of North Queensland. In this sea, which washed the base of the mountains on the west, was deposited the sandy formation which has become the level inland plains. From some cause so far unknown, the land became desiccated, the lakes lost their freshness, and became great salt pans, the vegetation and the animals dependent on it became extinct, until a dry and arid region was produced, with a river system that fails to reach the sea, but becomes absorbed in the great sandy interior. The smaller types of marsupials of a hardier nature and capable of removing to greater distances for food, maintained their existence, while the giants of a similar race have left only their bones embedded in the drift to testify to the mighty changes that Nature has wrought out in the past ages. Fossil diprotodons of gigantic size and struthious birds rivalling in stature the New Zealand moa, are found in Central Australia. At Lake Callabonna in the great salt Lake Eyre basin, there are hundreds of fossil skeletons of these animals, many of which have been removed to the Adelaide Museum. In that locality they are found most frequently on the surface of the dry salt lake, and have been preserved by a natural coating of carbonate of lime; the bones are found at various depths.

Nearly the whole of interior Australia, including Western Queensland, is one vast cemetery of extinct and fossilised species, scattered along the surface, or buried deep in cement or drifts, and in clays hidden beneath the present surface formation. The open plains of the Upper Flinders disclose great deposits of marine fossil sh.e.l.ls, belemnites and ammonites, and also remains of extinct animals. On the Lower Leichhardt River, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, forty or fifty feet beneath the alluvial deposits forming the banks of the river, and firmly embedded in the hard cement, which is an ancient drift formed of water-worn stones in an ironstone clay, are found the bones of innumerable extinct gigantic species of animals that found sustenance and multiplied in enormous numbers over the Gulf country in some far back pre-historic age. On the Walsh River are found large numbers of fossils, mostly sh.e.l.ls of the ammonite species. The bones that have been buried for countless ages in these ancient drifts are well preserved, and are not very dissimilar in appearance to the bones of animals dying recently on the surrounding plains, although they are completely fossilised and changed into the appearance of stone. The utter extinction of these gigantic species, comprising diprotodon, nototherium, and zygomaturus, and other species, gra.s.seaters and flesheaters alike, can only be accounted for by a great change of climate, and great and long-continued droughts, reducing the herbage and causing the remaining living animals to crowd into the drying-up lagoons and lakes, there to become bogged in thousands, and die as the stock die in the waterholes after a long drought. Some of the fossils are those of animals of a gigantic size, much larger than any existing native animals; the teeth found are twice the size of an ordinary bullock's, and the jaws carrying them are of enormous size and strength. There are remains of alligators over thirty feet long, and turtles of much greater dimensions than any existing in the present day. The vegetation in the marshes and territory forming North Queensland must have been of a luxuriant and tropical description in those days to have supported such large types of marsupials--animals that would require a more abundant moisture, larger rainfall, and heavier foliage, than are now to be found on the western slopes of the ranges. Deeply interesting is the study of the ancient forms of life that roamed over the densely-wooded marshes of the interior, when the flora represented a type found now only along the rich alluvial banks of the rivers on the east coast.

GEOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND.