The Book Of The Bush by George Dunderdale (books to read to improve english .TXT) 📕

Swamp.  It Was Half-Past Eleven When He Arrived At Hook's Hotel,  And,

As His Pony Was Still Too Lame To Travel,  He Bought The Horse He Had

Hired,  And Set Out With The Sale Mailman.  At The Moe He Found Angus

Mcmillan,  William Montgomery,  And Their Stockmen,  Afraid To Cross The

Creek On Account Of The Flood,  And They Had Eaten All Their

Provisions.  Before Dark A Black Gin Came Over In A Canoe From The

Accommodation Hut On The Other Side Of The Creek,  Having Heard The

Travellers Cooeying.  They Told Her They Wanted Something To Eat,  But

It Was Too Dangerous For Her To Cross The Water Again That Night.  A

Good Fire Was Kept Burning But It Was A Wretched Time.  It Rained

Heavily,  A Gale Of Wind Was Blowing,  And Trees Kept Falling Down In

All Directions.  Scott,  The Hut-Keeper,  Sent The Gin Over In The

Canoe Next Morning With A Big Damper,  Tea,  Sugar,  And Meat,  Which

Made A Very Welcome Breakfast For The Hungry Travellers.

They Stayed There Two Days And Two Nights,  And As The Flood Was Still

Rising,  They Resolved To Try To Cross The Creek At All Risks,

Preferring To Face The Danger Of Death By Drowning Rather Than To Die

Slowly Of Starvation.  Each Man Took Off His Clothes,  All But His

Flannel Shirt And Drawers,  Strapped Them To The Pommel Of His Saddle,

Threw The Stirrup Irons Over The Saddle,  And Stopped Them With A

String Under The Horse's Belly To Keep Them From Getting Foul In The

Trees And Scrub.  In Some Places The Horses Had To Climb Over Logs

Under Water,  Sometimes They Had To Swim,  But In The End They All

Arrived Safely At The Hut.  They Were Very Cold,  And Ravenously

Hungry; And While Their Clothes Were Drying Before A Blazing Fire,

They Drank Hot Tea And Ate Up Every Scrap Of Food,  So That Scott Was

Obliged To Accompany Them To The Next Station For Rations.  He Left

The Gin Behind,  Having No Anxiety About Her.  While He Was Away She

Could Feed Sumptuously On Grubs,  Crabs,  And Opossums.

In March,  1852,  When Everybody Was Seized With The Gold Fever,  Davy

Took It In The Natural Way.  He Again Left Port Albert Without A

Pilot And Went To Melbourne To Resign His Office.  But Mr. Latrobe

Promised To Give Him A Salary Of 500 Pounds A Year And A Boat's Crew

Of Five Men And A Coxswain.  The Men Were To Have Twelve-And-Six A

Day And The Coxswain Fifteen Shillings.

By This Time The Gold Fever Had Penetrated To The Remotest Parts Of

Gippsland,  And From Every Squatting Station And Every Lonely Hut On

The Plains And Mountains Men Gathered In Troops.  They Were Leaving

Plenty Of Gold Behind Them At Walhalla And Other Places.  The First

Party Davy Met Had A Dray And Bullocks.  They Were Slowly Cutting A

Road Through The Scrub,  And Their Team Was The First That Made Its

Way Over The Mountains From Gippsland To Melbourne.  Their Captain

Was A Lady Of Unbounded Bravery And Great Strength--A Model

Pioneeress,  With A Talent For Governing The Opposite Sex.*  When At

Home On Her Station She Did The Work Of A Man And A Woman Too.  She

Was The One In A Thousand So Seldom Found.  She Not Only Did The

Cooking And Housework,  But She Also Rode After Stock,  Drove A Team,

Killed Fat Beasts,  Chopped Wood,  Stripped Bark,  And Fenced.  She Did

Not Hanker After Woman's Rights,  Nor Rail Against The Male Sex.  She

Was Not Cultured,  Nor Scientific,  Nor Artistic,  Nor Aesthetic.  She

Despised All The Ologies.  All Great Men Respected Her,  And If The

Little Ones Were Insolent She Boxed Their Ears And Twisted Their

Necks.  She Conquered All The Blackfellows Around Her Land With Her

Own Right Arm.  At First She Had Been Kind To Them,  But They Soon

Became Troublesome,  Wanted Too Much Flour,  Sugar,  And Beef,  And

Refused To Go Away When She Ordered Them To Do So.  Without Another

Word She Took Down Her Stockwhip,  Went To The Stable,  And Saddled Her

Horse.  Then She Rounded Up The Blackfellows Like A Mob Of Cattle And

Started Them.  If They Tried To Break Away,  Or To Hide Themselves

Among The Scrub,  Or Behind Tussocks,  She Cut Pieces Out Of Their

Hides With Her Whip.  Then She Headed Them For The Ninety-Mile Beach,

And Landed Them In The Pacific Without The Loss Of A Man.  In That

Way She Settled The Native Difficulty.  The Neills,  With A Bullock

Team,  The Buckleys And Moores,  With Horse Teams,  Followed The Track

Of The Leading Lady.  The Station-Owners Stayed At Home And Watched

Their Fat Stock,  Which Soon Became Valuable,  And Was No Longer Boiled.

On December 31st,  1851,  There Were In Tasmania Twenty Thousand And

Sixty-Nine Convicts.  Six Months Afterwards More Than Ten Thousand

Had Left The Island,  And In Three Years Forty-Five Thousand Eight

Hundred And Eighty-Four Persons,  Principally Men,  Had Left For The

Diggings.  It Was Evident That Sir Wm. Denison Would Soon Have Nobody

To Govern But Old Women And Children,  A Circumstance Derogatory To

His Dignity,  So He Wrote To England For More Convicts And Immigrants,

And He Pathetically Exclaimed,  "To Whom But Convicts Could

Colonists Look To Cultivate Their Lands,  To Tend Their Flocks,  To

Reap Their Harvests?"  In The Month Of May,  1853,  Sir William Wrote

That "The Discovery Of Gold Had Turned Him Topsy-Turvy Altogether,"

And He Rejoiced That No Gold Had Been Discovered In His Island.  Then

The Legislature Perversely Offered A Reward Of Five Thousand Pounds

To Any Man Who Would Discover A Gold Field In Tasmania,  But,  As A

High-Toned Historian Observes,  "For Many Years They Were So Fortunate

As Not To Find It."

The Convicts Stole Boats At Launceston,  And Landed At Various Places

About Corner Inlet.  Some Were Arrested By The Police And Sent Back

To Tasmania.  Many Called At Yanakie Station For Free Rations.  Mr.

Bennison Applied For Police Protection,  And Old Joe,  Armed With A

Carbine,  Was Sent From Alberton As A Garrison.  Soon Afterwards A

Cutter Of About Fifteen Tons Burden Arrived At Corner Inlet Manned By

Four Convicts,  Who Took The Mainsail Ashore And Used It As A Tent.

[Footnote]  *Mrs. Buntine; Died 1896.

They Then Allowed The Cutter To Drift On The Rocks Under Mount

Singapore,  And She Went To Pieces Directly.  While Trying To Find A

Road To Melbourne,  They Came To Yanakie Station,  And They Found

Nobody At The House Except Joe,  Mrs. Bennison,  And An Old Hand.  It

Was Now Joe's Duty To Overawe And Arrest The Men,  But They,  Although

Unarmed,  Overawed And Arrested Joe.  He Became Exceedingly Civil,  And

After Mrs. Bennison Had Supplied Them With Provisions He Showed Them

The Road To Melbourne.  They Were Arrested A Few Days Afterwards At

Dandenong And Sent Back To The Island Prison.

A New Rush.

When Gold Was First Discovered At Stockyard Creek,  Griffiths,  One Of

The Prospectors,  Came To Me With The Intention Of Registering The

Claim,  Under The Impression That I Was Mining Registrar. He Showed Me

A Very Good Sample Of Gold.  As I Had Not Then Been Appointed

Registrar,  He Had To Travel Sixty Miles Further Before He Could

Comply With The Necessary Legal Formalities.  Then The Rush Began.

Old Diggers Came From All Parts Of Victoria,  New South Wales,

Queensland,  And New Zealand; Also Men Who Had Never Dug Before,  And

Many Who Did Not Intend To Dig--Pickpockets,  Horse Thieves,  And

Jumpers.  The Prospectors' Claim Proved The Richest,  And The Jumpers

And The Lawyers Paid Particular Attention To It.  The Trail Of The

Old Serpent Is Over Everything.  The Desire Of The Jumpers Was To

Obtain Possession Of The Rich Claim,  Or Of Some Part Of It; And The

Lawyers Longed For Costs,  And They Got Them.  The Prospectors Paid,

And It Was A Long Time Before They Could Extricate Their Claim From

The Clutches Of The Law.  They Found The Goldfield,  And They Also

Soon Found An Unprofitable Crop Of Lawsuits Growing On It.  They Were

Called Upon To Show Cause Before The Warden And The Court Of Mines

Why They Should Not Be Deprived Of The Fruit Of Their Labours.  The

Fact Of Their Having Discovered Gold,  And Of Having Pegged Out And

Registered Their Claim,  Could Not Be Denied; But Then It Was Argued

By Counsel Most Learned In Mining Law That They Had Done Something

Which They Should Have Omitted To Do,  Or Had Omitted To Do Something

Else Which They Should Have Done,  Frail Human Beings As They Were,

And Therefore Their Claim Should Be Declared To Belong To Some

Ballarat Jumper.  I Had To Sit And Listen To Such Like Legal Logic

Until It Made Me Sick,  And Ashamed Of My Species.  Of Course,  Justice

Was Never Mentioned,  That Was Out Of The Question; If Law And Justice

Don't Agree,  So Much The Worse For Justice.

Gold Was Next Found At Turton's Creek,  Which Proved One Of The

Richest Little Gullies Ever Worked By Diggers.  It Was Discovered By

Some Prospectors Who Followed The Tracks Which Mr. Turton Had Cut

Over The Scrubby Mountains,  And So They Gratefully Gave His Name To