Australia

(aus-tra'le-ah,) (formerly NEW HOLLAND,) a vast extent of land, comprising the main portion of Austral asia, and lying S. of the Eastern Archipelago, between Lat. 10° and 39° S., and Lon. 113° and 154° E., havingW. the Indian Ocean, E. the Pacific Ocean, N. the Sea of Timor and Torres Strait, separating it from Timor, Papua, ., and S. Ba ' Strait, dividing it from Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land). Length E. to W. 2,500 m.; greatest breadth abt. 1,800 m. Area, 3,000,000 sq. m. Only the S.E. part, with comparatively small sections in the W. and S., and an inconsiderable tract in the N., near Port E ington, have been yet thoroughly explored. The Australian Alps, or Warragong Mountains, on the S.E. coast, are constantly covered with snow; Mount York (Blue Mountains) rises to 3,292 ft.; and the Liverpool range, within the colony of New South Wales, roaches altitudes of bet. 6,000 and 7,000ft. The N. coast seems to be mostly low and level. The pp. rivers, few of which serve to facilitate internal navigation, are: the Murray, which falls into Murray Bay, after receiving the Darling, Castlereagh, Peel, Macquarrie, Bogan, Lachlan, and Murrumbidgee; the Hunter, Hawkesbury, Shoal haven, debouching on the E.; Blackwood and Glenelg on the S.; Swan and Canning on the W.; and Victoria, Adelaide, Liverpool, and Alligator on the N. const. The soil is very various; a large part of the surface is occupied by extensive sandy deserts; elsewhere fine pastures and woodlands are met with; but it is remarkable that the best soil is on the hill slopes, the lowlands and valleys being commonly sterile, except in the N., where there is a fine alluvial plain country. A third part of the continent lies within the torrid, and the rest within the S. temperate zone. The climate is peculiar, and subject to great vici itudes of temperature. Granite, sandstone, limestone, coal, and slates, are the chief mineral products, exclusive of gold, of which precious metal vast quantities have been obtained since its first discovery in 1854. Ferns, nettles, and gra es, some of gigantic size; hard timber, gum and resin trees, with palms, myrtles, cedars, pines, prickly shrubs, and a multitude of odoriferous plants and gra es, are the chief vegetable products; but it is remarkable that there are, with one or two exceptions, no indigenous fruits. Timber, in general, is of inferior quality. Maize, wheat, flax, tobacco, indigo, vines, olives, and in some parts sugar and cotton, are succe fully raised; but sheep-farming is the most flourishing branch of pastoral economy, and it is principally as a wool-growing country that A. has acquired its commercial importance. The indigenous quadrupeds hitherto discovered comprise 58 species, of which 46, including the kangaroo, wombat, and the other pouched animals, are peculiar to A. and its adjacent islands. The singular ormthorhynchus paradox us (Fig. 58) is an animal found here only; and it Fig. 58.- ORNITHORHYNCHUS. may be remarked that in many particulars nature here a umes a form unparalleled in other parts of the globe. The native Austral i ans are viewed by many ethnologists as a distinct variety of the human race; and, certainly, their numerous dialects have no discovered affinity with any other language. Their skin is of an earthy black, hair straight, forehead low and full, nose broad, lips thick, stature short, frame slight, and more adapted to feats of agility than strength. They live in roving tribes; and, though not deficient in intellect, are in their habits among the lowest in the scale of humanity. The Dutch, abt. the beginning of the 17th cent., were the earliest European discoverers of this country, and called it New Holland. But little was known of it until Dampier, Wallis, and afterwards Cook, explored its various coasts. The British settlement of New South Wales, or Sydney, was made in 1788. The settlement of Western Australia, or Swan River, was established in 1829. South Australia, formed in 1834, extends along the coast from Fowler's Bay in the W., to beyond Cape North umber land, or from Lon. 132° to 141°E., of which Adelaide is the C. Australia Felix, or Port Philip, chief town Melbourne, founded in 1837, isa dependency of New South Wales. North Australia was colonized in 1838, and Queensland, C. Brisbane, in 1859. Pop. 1877, 1,939,331. [s. 62] IMG:p0091_0.jpg:Gravür