Salute to Australia It is difficult to realise that the
landing at Port Jackson of the first consignment of British settlers—the nucleus from which the Australian people has sprung—took place no more than one hundred and fifty years ago. Today that landing- place—now, of course, Sydney—is one of the largest and most flourishing ports in the world. By the people of Britain this new colony was then valued almost alone for the outlet which it provided for the congested gaols of thi...'15inigdom. Free settlers were, in these early years, in a minority. From that amalgam has descended a people prosperous, progressive, virile, and pledged politically to the truest principles of democracy. That it proved possible to mould such raw material into free, intelligent and hard-working citizens was largely due to the foresight and ability of the colony's first Governor, Admiral Phillip. It was through him that the British Government were brought to realise the potentialities of the great new colony and were persuaded to encourage free emigration to it of the farmer type. Australians are justly proud of their achievements, and the celebrations which are taking place in the summer heat of Sydney are attracting the presence of thousands of oversea visitors and the thoughts of the whole British Commonwealth. It was enterprise more than conquest that built up the Empire.
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