LIFE IN NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA

Hokitika Guardian, 25 July 1918, Page 1

LIFE IN NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA

SOME OF THE DISADVANTAGES. :1 , Sydney, July io A Presbyterian Minister from * Broome, passing through Sydney * recently, was interviewed by the - . newspapers, and gave some inter--1 esting information about life in the f far north-west. I“ For about seven months in the ' . year,” he said, “ the temperature is - j over go, and the effect of this con- ■ tinned heat is seen in the women, ; who look washed-out and anaemic. ! i The natural eftecrof anaemic is de- ; pression and melancholy. Women at Broome will tell you that they have no worries, their relatives enjoy good health, there are no i ' financial troubles, yet ‘ I sat down i and cried and cried, and I don’t I know why,’ Then some enter- I prising friend will come along and : give a nip of gin. This sets the : women up for a while, but the good ! j effect does not last long.” Up in these regions the domestic help problem is acute. The white ; people, as far as possible, use the | natives, but they are most unsatisI factory servants. They will not settle down. After they have been 1 for some months in a place, and been trained into some sort of use -; fulness, they get restless, and want ; to wander. If the}' are checked, I they simply ‘‘go bush” —that is,; disappear into the forests. In tact, ' at the commencement of the wet j 'season they prefer to ‘‘go bush” ; and live their old life. When the rains come there are plenty of wild , birds, eggs, and other things to keep them alive, but in the dry ' season they stay about the towns, because there is nothing to cat in ; the bush. j

Their habits are not cleanly. They detest clean clothes, which they declare are too cold, and they like close association with their animals. “ Billy had a huge, dirty dog, which I threatened to send away. ‘‘Spose yon send dog away-. ‘ I go too,” was Billy’s firm answer, j Another fellow used to sleep with a ’ dog on each side of him, to act as hot water bottles, as it were. Of course these dogs are very useful to chase kangaroos and other game ; when they ‘go bush.’ Some of the gins work in the houses, but more often <iuly boys are employed. They i are engaged under agreements for fixed periods, and if they go away any sooner they may be arrested. But once a servant bolts, it is little use bringing him back forcibly, for he only makes himself a nuisance of ‘goes bush.’ The natives are very . casual —you can laugh them into | doing anything, but it is not wise to i scold them and make them sulky. They make excellent stockmen, and on some stations gins are used to round up sheep. They* search every clump of shrub and never leave a sheep behind. Gins may be also seen driving donkey teams of from i 8 to 20 animals.” There is no drainage system in Broome. Sewage runs under the houses, and the intense heat dries it quickly 7 . Yet Broome is a very healthy town, and ty'plioid is unknown. There is considerable dengue fever, but it is not serious. The Japanese and Malays, of whom there are considerable numbers, suffer from beri-beri, the result of too much rice. The cure is fresh meat and vegetables.