TRAVELS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
Travels in Western Australia. By May Vivienne (W. Heine' mann. 15s. net.)—Although second only to New South Wales in point of settlement, Western Australia is latest in point of development, and the last State to join the Australian Common- wealth. As with her neighbour Victoria, the magic wand of her rapid and solid expansion has been the spade of the gold prospector, aided by the scrip of the investor. And in spiie of much wild speculation, there is the outstanding fact of an output of thirty-one tons of gold from this veritable "Golden West." This is just double the whole amount produced by all of the other States put together. As with New Zealand and Victoria the search for gold has immensely developed the other natural resources of the State. Hence there was used for a book which should present these results in a worthy manner, and, notwith- standing some extravagance in the use of the adjectives "pretty," "exquisite:' and "splendid." and even such a combination as 'tremendous giant trees," the author's account of her two thousand miles of travel is both fascinating and trustworthy. In reading of the rise and present prosperity of such towns as Yilgarn, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, and Coolgardie, the reader may well fancy he has a Southern edition of the "Arabian Nights" before him. The wild flowers ; the jarrah, karri, and sandal forests; the farms, gardens, vineyards, and orange groves ; the pearl fisheries and gold mines, are described for the reader with a freshness and accuracy which could hardly come but from a "native" whose touch is racy of the soil and whose impressions are the result of long and happy experience.
Previous page
