OUR LITERARY CORNER.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16150, 2 March 1918, Page 7

OUR LITERARY CORNER.

ORIGINAL AND SELECTED MATTER. ON BOOKS AND ' AUTHORS.

AN AUSTRALIAN SUMMER DAY.

(SPECIALLY WRITTE-V TOR "THE PRESS.' )

/Rv the Rev. John Mackenzie, M.A., " Toorak, .Melbourne, formerly of Christchurch.)

Australia is a land of violent contrasts and contradictions—a land of •fierce droughts and sweeping floods, of barren sands and fertile fields, of glaring ugliness ind bewitching beauty. Its people, too, cannot bo classified according to conventional standards. They refuse to conform to a uniform type. There is in their social and public life a tendency to extremes. They love and hate with a greater intensity than the ordinary Englishman. There is " a touch of the sun' in their nature. For this reason all attempts to generalise about Australia are doomed to failure, and the efforts of outsiders to 6um up the country and its people in a sentence are equally futile. All kinds of things that defy and contradict each other live side by side in Australia, jostling each other at every turn, and sfirtring against each other for expression in politics, literature, and art. Perliaps we ought to 6ay that Australia, as a nation, does not yet exist. It is a nation in the making. The-crude colours have been g pread out upon palette; a bold outline has been/feketched. Some day there -jvill be *inished picture, upon critics may try their skill. In tho meantime criticism is usually uiiinteffigent, or biased, or both.

These reflections are suggested by the fact that, in the middle of my summer holiday I am looking out, through mist and rain, upon a scene that is suggestive of the West of Scotland. A dull, grey sea rolls into the little bay. In the background is a semi-circle of "'bush-clad'hills, the gum-trees dark green and sombre as the Scottish pines; while over all hangs a curtain of cloud that hides the sun and blots out tho blue of the sky. And yet this is Australia in midsummer, and Lorne, where we are spending a short holiday, is one of the favourite summer resorts on the southern coast of Victoria.

A little village, with a population of about 250 in normal times, it receives an annual influx of several hundreds more in the . summer season. Leaving Melbourne at half-past six in the morning, one passes south through Geelong and arrives about mid-day at Dean Marsh, a railway station at the foot of the bush-clad Otway Ranges. Far away to the west and north stretch those open plains, across which the pioneers drove their flocks long years ago, when the world was wide. Coaches, each drawn by six horses, are waiting to convey the passengers over the hills, through the bush, a distance of fourteen miles. J The road gradually ascends until one Reaches a height of 140$ feet Above jjfia. level. Here in the midst of clearing, .stands an accommodation house, where a delightful lunoh, including raspberries and cream, is obtainable. The road, for the most part, follows the ridges. In many places fire has swiept across it, but the damage is not irreparable. The towering giants of the forest, for the most part, survive the fiery ordeal, and after every fire thousands of young wattles and gums make their immediate appea,rance. • As the coach swings round the corners one catches glimpses of beautiful valleys, crammed with vegetation, through which flow perennial streams, and over which hangs that mysterious haze of blue which is so characteristic a feature of Australian scenery. As one draws near the coast the glint of the sea shines through the trees, and an occasional wallaby hops away, in leisurely fashion, into the undergrowth. -

Lorne itself lies at the head of a broad bay, which faces due east, and which extends for a distance of about twelve miles from point to point. It has a fine sandy beach, which affords splendid opportunities for bathing. The long rollers sweep in from the open sea, rfnd, usually, scores of people, young and old, may be seen disporting themselves in the surf, or shooting shoreivards on their surfboards amidst "the spume of great waves. Usually the bay is quite safe, but. when there is an easterly wind there is a strong undertow, and there are occasional fatalities. A few days ago c a young man, a strong swimmer, went down for his morning bathe. He was seen to dive into a breaker. In a few minutes he was missed, but no sign of him could be found. "Whether he was seized by cramp or carried down by the undertow must remain a mystery. . . The- cHarm of Lorne is found not only, in the beauty of its scenery and in its seclusion, hut also in the variety of its interests. On the edge of the beach is-a small golf course, where the devotees of the royal and ancient game may be seen patiently searching for lost balls in the bracken, or holding endless arguments upon the. greens. Fish of all kinds abound. - There are English trout in the neighbouring rivers, and from the rocks or off tho jotty -largo catches of mullet, garfish, bream and schnapper are made when wind and tide are favourable. For some mornings past our breakfast has been supplied by enthusiastic amateur fishermen, who have returned in the evening, tired but happy, their baskets full of schnapper. Thero are professional fishermen in tho village, hut, as is usually the caso in Australia, tho product of their toil is seldom seen, and is obtainable only at a great price. In the vicinity of Lome there are numerous streams which flow down from the central range.. As the descent to the sea is rapid, nearly all these streams have one or moro water- ! falls in their course, varying from j 20ft to 120 ft in height. The approach ] to these falls is usually made through deep fern glades, which have, fortunately, escaped the ravages of fire. The i tree-ferns arc magnificent. and in some j places they stand so close together that, the gloom beneath their fronds is hard- I ly broken by a ray of sunshine. The waterfalls are small in , volume, compared with tlif more nfctable of those in but each lias a delicacy "and distinction, of its own, and, M one sees iheru from a distance,

framed in tJic green of the forest, and bordered with dripping ferns, they make a charming picture.

One notable inhabitant of Lorne is Principal Harper, of St. Andrew's University College, Sydnc-y, who has a house in the village, and who has spent tiro or three months of each year in the place for over thirty years. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the Australian bush, and an untiring walker. It is a source of pride to him that so much of the forest in the midsrt of which Lorno stands has bosn preserved. In places the trees com© down to the water's edge, and, strange to say, the woodman's axe has not been lifted against thorn. One is thankful that the lust of dostruction, which has already turned so many of Nature's gardens into a wilderness, has here been restrained. Although over throo score years and ten, Dr. Harper still scorns to keep to the beaten track, hut takes a bee-lino across tho roughest country, descending valleys, climbing ridges - , and forcing a way through the dense-under-growth. A week ago I accompanied him on one of his expeditions. Leaving Lome at half-past nine in the morning we tramped to tho Cumberland river, some five miles down the coast. We ascended the river for a short distance, and then struck up a precipitous face on to one of the numerous ridges that run down to tho coast. The rest of the day, with brief intervals for rest and refreshment, was spent in making our way home, across country, through the primeval forest. In some places the undergrowth had been cleared away by fire. In other places a perfect jungle of saplings and scrub filled up all the spaces between the larger trees. Through all this one had literally to force a way, and, after an absence of eleven hours, one was glad to come in sight of the twinkling lights of Lorne. What about snakes? It is interesting to record that, during the whole of my stay in Lorne, I never saw a snake, although I heard that two or three had been killed. Another distinguished visitor to lrfjrne, is Dr. Mannix, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, whose strenuous opposition to the Prime Minister, Mr Hughes, and to the recent conscription proposals, has made his name the battle cry of a section of the citizens of the Commonwealth. Several of the stationholders, whose proporty is in the warmer districts of Australia, have homes in Lorne, to which they retire with their families during the hottest part of the year. Amongst these it was interesting to meet again Mrs •fcne Russell, the daughter of Mr A. W. Rutherford, of Mendip Hills. But, as I write, the rain ceases: the clouds that have overshadowed tho bay drift seaward, and the midday sun shines out again from a sky of sapphire blue. There is no longer any hifat of Scotland in the scene. The o-rey mists were simply one of Australia's contradictions, one mood of her over-chang--10 They are gone, and the land is steepod once more in wannth and sunshine. The children flock down, to the beach; the holidaymakers, m light summer, garb, tiass on their way; the sound of laughter comes o?t,v 01 + m r \ Naturo wears her sunniest smile, and it is hard to roalise that an hour ago the outlook was sombre as under lowering northern skies. Such is Australia. Who can justly judge such a land? Who can prcJ phesy with certainty its future?