CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 58, 6 September 1926, Page 9

CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

CONFLICT OF OPINION

DESOLATE OR HABITABLE?

(From On- Own Correspondent)

SYDNEY, 26th August.

The large central heart of Australia has for a long time been the subject of much controversy among explorers, settlers, and geographers. Some assert that it is eminently suitable for the settlement of white men and women. Others declare just as emphatically that it is a region of death and desolation. Many expeditions have been led to investigate the region's possibilities, yet the conflict of opinion still exists and Australians are no nearer to learning the real truth about it than they were twenty or thirty years ago. The region remains an enigma. This was emphasised at the beginning of this week, when two exploring parties returned to their home towns after long periods of inquiries. The leader of one said that Central Australia could be made into a white man's country. The leader of the other stated that if Central Australia had any future, it was one of even greater desolation.

CAN BE MADE FIT FOE WHITE SETTLERS.

Sir Baldwin Spencer, of Melbourne, well-k^own Australian authority on aborigines, natural history, anthropology> geology, and what not, has just returned to Melbourne after a four months' trip into the interior. He was of opinion that Central Australia, which had supported a few blacks, could be made into a white settler's country, as Arizona (U.S.A.) and the Mallec (Victoria) had been, by tho application of science to agriculture and to means of overcoming the dry climate. Next to these the motor-car and -the aeroplane would be the chief factors in developing Central Australia. The wonderful fruits and Vegetables grown at Alice Springs were typical of the results which could be achieved in this area.

"WOULD GIVE YOTT THE HORRORS."

Contrast with these views those of Mr. Donald Mackay, a grazier of western New South Wales, who, to satisfy a whim and to prove for himself ' the truth of Central Australia, financed an expedition to the region, and spent three months in traversing the country, mainly by camels. He prevailed upon Dr. Herbert Basedow, a leading Australian ethnologist, of Adelaide, to accompany him, and these two, with an experienced bushman, went even further afield than Sir Spencer Baldwin. They went as far west as the Western Australian border. This is what he said: "The country would give you the horrors, it was so poor and worthless, and what animal and vegetable life there was looked miserable and parched. The few pastoralists there will not last another twenty years, in my opinion. The country is deteriorating. You could travol for ovor. fifty miles over that place and not collect a hatful of grass. Milo after mile of the country from Charlotte Waters to Western Australia is in a miserable condition. It must have carried millions of rabbits at one time, and they have eaten everything, ring-barking the trees and leaving dead stumps. Thero are not many rabbits there now —there is not much of anything—and it is only a matter of timo before the country becomes a waste of shifting sand dunes." On the journey the party met wild aborigines with whom they made friends. The largest tribe numbered 40 persons, who followed the explorers for thirty miles, straggling along in the dust of the camel team, carrying their spears and babies and dogs, many of which, miserable'and flea-bitten, were too weak to walk. Yet tho natives lived and seemed well-fed. That was truly a mystery, as lizards, grubs, grass, and roots were staple articles of their diet. North of Odnadatta, the party visited a station where a few days before 300 horses had been shot because they could not be sold and were eating valuable food. They wero beautiful animals. formerly horsebreeding was tho mainstay of tho pastoralists in that country. Thus is given a summary of the conflicting views. In this case, the scientist, with ample faith in the differences that scientists of the future might effect, looks at the country through obviously rosy spectacles. On the other hand, the practical grazier, accustomed to the fertile plans of New South Wales, sees nothing but desolation, looking perhaps thrpugh glasses that are slightly darkened by pessimism. Tho Australian of to-day, with the interest of his country at heart, asks: Which is right? Perhaps tho rising generation of to-day will receive tho answer. It will be surprising if older Australians will live to see results which will give a definite, reply .one way, 05 the other. ]