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NOTES ON CENTRAL AUSTRALIA.
A DROUGHT-STRICKEN REGION.
By C. T. Madigan, Lecturer on Geology and Mineralogy, University of Adelaide.
The writer, in company with Sir Douglas Mawson, recently had the
opportunity, long sought, of spending a month in the Interior. Having
had some experience as a Governme nt official In the Sudan, a country geo
graphically similar, being continental and in equal, though northern, lati
tude, and having camel-trekked that country from end to end, engaged
principally in locating sites for wells, he ventures to add to the list of
published impressions.
First of all, there is 110 longer any
Northern Territory. Iu March of this
year the Commonwealth proclaimed two
new States—North Australia, with the
capital at Darwin; and Central Australia,
with its capital at Alice Springs. Central
Australia lies bctwepn the 20th and 26th
parallels of south latitude. The white
population of Alice Springs is 40, and of
Central Australia 260.
We spent over a week of enforced idle
ness at the hotel in Alice Springs, and
had nothing to do between meals but re
move the tough goat meat from our teeth,
and listen to the conversation of these
40. Of one or two it was said by their
less charitable frietids, in the picturesque
metaphor of the country, that tbey bad
been inoculated with a gramophone needle.
Be that as it may, we certainly heard
their opinions on all matters of common
interest, expressed with remarkable free
dom and forcefulncss.
Federal Officialdom.
The destinies of tbese two States are
controlled by commissioners, who sit in
Canberra, or some other place—no one
seemed quite certain where. At present
there are four Government officials for
Centra] Australia stationed in Alice
Springs—the Government Resident (h£r.
Cawood), who arrived from New South
Wales for Proclamation Day in Mnrch;
his assistant (Mr. Carrington); the Stock
Inspector (Mr. Campbell), with many
years' experience iu the old Northern
Territory; and Mr. Commissioner Stott.
for 16 years iu charge of the police, and
now about to retire. The administration
is in a state of flux, and the new officials
have hardly had time to get their bear
ings. The Resident was absent on a long
trip to Camooweal during most of our
stay. If you ask the half-caste children
at the school who rules Australia, they,
reply "The King;" and if you ask who
the King is, tbey answer "Sergeant
Stott." The oid order takes some time to
change.
Scenes of Desolation.
Our visit was in November, and at the
end—or, we hope the end—of a five years'
drought. Mr. Campbell said half the
cattle died last year, and more will go
this year. Already we saw many dead
and others dying, some down for the last
time, some standing but unable to move,
with that dreadful expression of hopeless
ness only seen in the eyes of dumb ani
mals, and dingoes boldly standing about
and waiting. These beasts had either
been left behind by drovers as too weak
to travel, or had strayed too far from ]
water and were unable to get back, j
When we asked why the drovers did not
put them out of their misery before leav
ing them, we were told that it was meant
well, to give them a chance, "as it might j
rain next day." Curiously, it did rain the '
day after our enquiry, hut scarcely enough
to prolong their misery unless tney hap
pened to be near clay pans and could still
move. This was the state of things in
November. Only goat meat was available
at the hotel. Rabbits were almost ex
tinct. Their deserted warrens were fre
quently seen. They soon breed up again
when good seasons come, however. No
visitor, not even a cattle man
from the south, is competent to ex
press an opinion on the stock carrying
capacity of the country. The grass and
herbage are unfamiliar and the country
is absolutely different in different seasons
and years. When there are hard-headed
men who have battled along for 40 years
with cattle in the country to be consulted,
it is absurd to listen to any one else.
We were told that the country round
Oodnadatta was looking well, when we
were thinking we had never seen anything
more ghastly. There have been some
rains during the latter part of the year,
and in depressions where water had col
lected could be seen on closer inspection
the withered remains of grass and the very
small species of saltbush. The view as far
as the eye could see in every direction
is a waste of stony plain, with low rises
of gypseous clay, some barren cliffs at
the edge of a plateau remnant to the
hortb-eafit, and not a bush or tree in
sight.
Tastoral yuesuons.
At present the country is reckoned to
carry on the average oae beast to the
square mile. There are no boundaries
or fences in Central Australia. The
leases are reckoned in hundreds of square
miles, whore we of the south would speak
of acres, and a man refers to his country,
not his land. His country is duly ruled
off the map and labelled, but is in no
Way defined on the ground. Most of them
are not quite sure themselves within a few
miles where their country ends.
There are very few sheep in Central
Australia. We only saw them at one
place, Woodford's Well, sonie hundred
miles north of the Alice. One reason
for this ia that they have to be shep
herded and guarded every night on account
of the w'ihl dogs, and another is that
they cannot stand drought as well as the
cattle, and cannot feed out so far from
Water.
Two factors govern stock-carrying capa
city—feed and water. In the great arte
sian basin, which extends in South Aus
tralia from Iiergott Springs to Charlotte
Waters (just inside Central Australia),
and covers the whole area to the caet of
this line and a considerable loop to the
west, the feed is the deciding factor.
Given the capital, enough water can he
had anywhere by. boring for it, hut stock
cannot live on water alone. ■ The water
supply is far in excess of the feed. This
area is mostly included in the Lake Eyre
Basin. The rainfall is about five inches,
and the country is a desert. There are
worse deserts in the world, but not much
worse. It is unfortunate for' South
Australia that the artesian water is only
available in such poor, country. This is
not 60 in New South Wales and Queens
land. It is hardly necessary to say that,
[though some bores will supply a million
gallons a day, it is not practicable to irri
gate on any scale with it. The quan
tity is insufficient, and even {or vegetable
growing, a small patch of ground soon be
comes too saline for use. The artesian
basin only extends for a short distance
'into Central Australia, and the Charlotte,
a pump well, is the most northerly bore
in it.
| The position is reversed in North
Australia, where the feed is in excess of
the water. The rainfall improves as
we go north from Charlotte Waters, where
it is five inches. At Alice Springs it is
10 inches. The trees and herbage become
steadily better, with large gums in the
water courses, and desert oak and blood
wood plentiful in the more sandy regions,
inulga and spinifex everywhere. Saltbush
| almost disappears at the MacDonnells, and
to the north of them tall grasses such as
' Mitchell grass come in. Much of the best
country seen was between Alice Springs
and Barrow's Creek, our most northerly
point. Beyond the 'Barrow and as far
as Tennant's Creek the country is said
to fall off badly again, to improve out
of all comparison as the northern part
of North Australia is reached.
' Getting Water.
The water problem is simple but costly
inside the artesian basin. In Central
Australia it is much more difficult. There
is plenty of underground water, but it
requires an expert to choose favourable
localities and minimise the risk of sinking
costly and unsuccessful wells, which may
so discourage the landholder as to prevent
liim from trying again. As an instance of
the want of advice one may quote a
man who declared that if he did not
strike water in his country at 20 ft., it
was no use going further down. He was
convinced of this beyond all argument.
There are good wells all along the tele
graph lines at about 30-mile stages. They
were located more from consideration of
where they were wanted than of specially
favourable localities. They are all from
50 to 100 ft. deep only. The water is
shallow and of much better quality than
artesian water. The well system could
be greatly extended in Central Austra
lia, and the stock-carrying capacity of
the country increased, chiefly fay prevent
ing the enormous losses sustained in dry
seasons. At present the tendency is to
depend on a few good wells only, and
while we were there urgent requests were
being made to be allowed to bring stock
in to the Government wells', supposed
only to be used for travelling stock. Every
landholder could have several equally
good wells in his own country. Many
of them realize this, but have not the
capital to sink wells, and in a few cases
MB. C. T. MADIGAN, B.A., B.Sc. Help
MB. C. T. MADIGAN, B.A., B.Sc.
only, not the energy, and always tliere is
the fear of much expensive and wasted
labour. Again, there is the idea that a
small well is useless. This has been fos
tered by the custom of watering big mobs
at good wells, and the influence of flow
ing bores. In the north-west of Western
Australia the country is dotted with shal
low wells with automatic windmills, tanks,
and troughs with ballcocks, and this plan
is being followed in the Laverton district
The cattle can be broken up into smaller
groups, and watered separately. This is
the one critical suggestion the writer Ven
tures to make, namely, that the 50,000
gallon a day well should no longer be re
garded as essential, but its place taken by
several smaller wells.
Permanent Geologist Wanted.
To make this possible, of course, capi
tal and labour are required, but, obove all,
in our opinion, the Government staff in
Alice' Springs should be supplemented by
a permanent geologist, _wbo could make a
thorough study of this most interesting
region, and thus be in a position to adviEe
with confidence on well sinking. The
saving to the Government and the people
would provide a whole geological depart
ment. In addition, the mineral resources
of the country alone warrant such an
appointment.
The railway from Oodnadatta to Alice
Springs is proceeding apace. ' About 30
miles is completed, and work is in band
up to 80' miles out, The line has just
reached the Alberga River, which is being
bridged. - This is the usual wide stretch
of sand and gravel, which may or may
not carry a torrent once a year. About
300 men are employed. It seemed to us
that there would be little to be gained
Demolition of tunnel on main line at Blackwood, showing extra space for second pair of rails. Help
Demolition of tunnel on main line at Blackwood, showing extra space for second pair of rails.
in carrying the railway beyond Alice
Springs. The road is much better be-1
yond this point, in fact, motors can
travel for long stretches at 50 miles an
hour. The troubles of overlanding motor
ists cease at Alice Springs, and up tc
there they consist only of the Finke cross
ings and the "Tragic Mile." The Depot
sandhills have been circumvented by a
new track. There is some heavy sandy
going, but any car can do it, properly
handled.
Transport.
The present freight on ordinary mer
chandise from Adelaide to Alice Springs I
is £55 a ton, £25 on the railway and
£30 by motor truck from Oodnadatta.
The motor truck takes two days. Camel'
transport can be had' as low as £12 10/ ,
a ton, reducing the cost to £37 10/ a ton,
but the time taken is three weeks, end |
the damage to goods is considerable.]
When the railway is through, on the same
basis as to Oodnadatta, the freight will
be about £38 a ton. The railway will
help to alleviate the lot of the inhabi
tants, but any immediate magic metamor
phosis of the interior is not to be looked
for. It is bound to be a heavy loss for
many years, but at least its construction
shows a spirit of progress and a determi
nation to wrest what we can from our
great unused areas. At present Central
Australia appears to be cattle country
only. With increase in water supply, an
increase in stock is possible, but the bene
fit from this is not as easily and quickly
obtained as might at first appear. Markets
must be arranged and economic difficulties
overcome. The fate of Vesteys in North
Australia, and the Carnarvon Meat Works
in Western Australia is not encouraging.
A railway is not essential for moving
cattle. It will allow favourable oppor
tunities of selling to be taken quickly, liut
Buck a long rail journey has great dis
advantages. It is said in the country
that certain cattle men will never use the
railway. Then, again, large areas' to the
east and west, are no nearer to Alice
Springs than they are to Oodnadatta.
Mining Country.
As to mineral resources, there are pos
sibilities here. The railway to Alice
Springs will stimulate prospecting. None
of the known mineral lodes are with:n
a hundred miles of Alice Springs, so that
the railway does not altogether solve their
transport problems. Substantial railway
concessions would need to. be made to
make it profitable to shovel pure' lead
on to trucks at Alice Springs. At pre
sent only mica is profitably mined. There
is a lot of highly^ mineralized country, and :
another Kalgoorlie or Broken Hill is more j
possible than an oil gusher in Australia.
Only such a discovery would bring thou
sands into Central Australia, a mining I
field that would support a railway and aj
city.
An Unexplored Desert.
An entirely unexplored area lies for 300
miles to the south-east of Alice Springs, J
down into the corner of the State, the,
corner occupied by the artesian basin. No
white man has crossed it and the natives!
deny any knowledge of it. - It is evidently1
waterless. Mr. J. O'Neill, one of the
discoverers of the Stuart's Range Opal
Fields, did a 10-day "perish" in the area
with camels, hut had to turn back for
want of water. The Todd and Hall livers
disappear in that direction. O'Neill saw
nothing but low sandhills covered witli
dead spinifcx. and described it as the most
desolate area he has ever entered up
there. There are trees and bushes in
the watercourses even in the Lake Eyre
basin, but in that area there are none.
Unlike the deserts of Upper Egypt, we
saw no places where you could not get
enough wood within a few miles to boil
a billy. Such areas apparently exist in
some of the Queensland grasslands, how
ever. We were told by one old battler
that he found himself without wood on one
occasion, so he started a grass fire. The
grass was thin and dry, and burnt quickly,
so he had to run with the billy to keep
it over the fire. He ran for nearly three
miles before the water was boiling, and
when it did boil he was darned if he
hadn't left the blanky tea behind. We
heard some good ones up there, hut we
are old travellers in many climes our
selves
A Reserve for Aboriginals.
The only natives we saw were those
employed on the stations, and those who
have congregated round Alice Springs,
attracted by the issue of rations, but we
heard from several men recently re
turned, including one of the officials, that
there were plenty of blacks out west in
the region of Mount OJga and Lake
Amadeus and the aboriginal reserve, line
healthy people, breeding rapidly. We saw
none as far as 120 miles west. The gene
ral opinion tip there, to which we heartily
subscribed, was that the reserve was the
only thing for the natives, and that an
issue of rations and clothing was simply
their undoing, as they at once give up
their natural life and hunting, and stay
around the settlements, and are soon re
duced to the wretched specimens seen
about the Alice. The ration is nominally
only for the aged and infirm, but the
whole family comes in and attempts to
live on one ration. Once they have any
contact with the white man they are
lost. The • half-castes are mostly brought
up by their black- mothers in "the Bun
galow" at Alice Springs, and go to school
for an hour and a half a day, where they
eventually learn to read and write, under
the kind care of Mrs. Standley, but owing
to tbeir upbringing they are more black
than white in their instincts, and it is
wrong to take them, and even more 60,
the full bloods, away from their natural
environment in Central Australia. The
girls will go to any length to get back
to the "Bungalow" from Adelaide, and
there is one easy way that many of them
take. These children are as liappy as they
can be at the "Bungalow," laughing and
playing alj day without a care in the
world. They love it as their home, and
they know no better. There is 110 doubt
that the half-castes, apart from the ethi
cal standpoint, ore a great asset to the
country. It would he almost impossible to
get along without them. The women do all
the domestic work, the climate is natural
to them, and they never want to leave.
The men do a big share of the stock and
station work.
A Great Task.
In 1886 Mr. (now Dr.) Charles Chew
ings wrote an excellent account of a latge
portion of Central Australia, under the
title, "The Sources of the Finke River."
It was published, with a map by the
author, by W. Iv. Thomas & Co., reprinted
from The Adelaide Observer. It con
tains a fine tribute to Stuart, and an elo
quent appeal on behalf of Centra! Aus
tralia, and was., the result of 14 months'
continuous travelling. From the men
tion of staions then existing the melan
choly cpnclusion must be drawn that the
country has not advanced during the 40
intervening years. Let us hope that Dr.
Chewings, who has stuck out those 40
years in the country he championed, and
has only recently retired to the city, the
man whom the writer would place as the
foremost authority on Central Australia,
will live to see his dreams of great future
development come true.
While civilization and the .node of liv
ing are as we know them, any idea of a
large population in Central Australia is
as fantastic as Stcfansson's propaganda
on the "Friendly Arctic," and the closer
settlement of the arctic regions. Science
has gradually extended the confines of
the useful and habitable portions of the
earth, and in time no doubt even the
recognised deserts of the globe will be
occupied, under conditions we cannot now
foretell, evolved under the urge of the
will to live. We need not wait for
those distant times before utilizing Central
Australia to its fullest for our present
gain, and, more important still, sluuving
its problems and advancing the researches
into the questions of the adaptation to
this unfriendly region of present methods
of utilizing land, or on the other hand, of
finding new uses for country so forbidding
to the agriculturist of normal regions.
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