AUSTRALIA’S PLACE

Hokitika Guardian, 2 May 1925, Page 4

AUSTRALIA’S PLACE

IN Till-: Kll t'liilV In a sermon preached on Australia 1 I'a. a; Si. Ditlistau in-! lie- I'.'ast, (.’real ! .1" !■• -.1 reei. I.onilon. Ins (. race the s Aiehbi-knp el Canierbury 1 bus enipha--I -lie. I l! e pie I A'l-I I alia 111 li,.- I'im- • I l '!''"' e "It aiw - cm -to me that the die - ; ik e■ in ni of A iisi 1 a ha's young life. > -laud- out in a quit ' di-t Iml lie way in I Ihe story el the werll. Buddy still I with all I l.e head Id tllii--s and Impel 11I- • ms- of a gk'd j'liyhood. she is lorging 1 ahead in spite of many draw Irek- and

I ' 1 1 »l Hit lily • ill - cii,li,uf- ' i ,i h«- omviinl » Mi!»|!iri ;ii*j ;m«l s to riinqiier. I H Inw pa rt ■- ol the ron lid 1 world. \\ 1 1 i•■; 1 i::l l.- he. -. il ill 1 “ dnfUi.l- ---' ions" ;i - no call them, under our 1 Sovereign herd the King. possessed ' m. mill or historie.il equipment-- or aimaiiieiits of iheir own before we Biii li' 1 1 lolls (-.'lino on | |;e si ,-lle. 11l some regions there was immense natural ■ equipment. Ihitik ol (amnia; her rxI liau | less water-ttills, her mighty m ‘ wavs, liiiil ol Alls) rail.in harhours. • hundreds ol in lies i rom the sen : l.ci ivi 11-w atcrcd plains. Imr obvious site ■ j for i_ho towns aml ; I ado-- il limit aMe ’• of the centuries lhal ale to lie. And 1 v. itli ilie-.e. the stirring romance of hvi red-1 in Ila ii tribe life, made so exciting hy the gi Hills ol i ei! i I More ( on|IIT and .Maine lived. 'I hell her -.real battle stori -s. the names .Monti aim. and Wiille. and many mine, and withal the record ol amazing pioneer missions, .lesail and m her. u hieh i nrol among ill- w<-i Id's h"n.i's--ii unities a- I hose ol Conpil and hic'.i-iu and Daniel in 11 1 ej r AI art \ rdotu. ■•They ha ’.a* great tilings to chronicle, yes, and these things v.ere theirs and bernme ours a! the very oiiLsel. lor* Cana.la. of wlial we called Colon - ial hie.- and I hey gave a glorious background to our ellorC at il.s very l-irih. "Or l urn I rom I lie setting to l lie rising sun and think ol our Eastern Empire. the India which lias htrnishcd Lo | our best men so glorious a held ol service; our India, ulieriu and wherc.it

lie are daily learning to appreciate belter the amazing heritage which is theirs and ours. We are studying w ith a new-hoi ii zest the age-long .story of her thoughts and faiths, and striving to enlist Lo the profit, not detriment. of our Empire as a whole, the tones of the national spirit which is so rightly hers and which we want to 11 mIt-i stand and guide. Mod helping Us, to words and ways ennobling and n,vi ..rating both to India and to England. Al STB APIA'S TASK. •■ I mention those contrasts merely to cii ha in o, were il necessary, the uniqueness uf our Australian task, tin startin'; of a national life which no indigenous roots, no historic glamour, no background of philosophic thought, and whose earliest; days wen* arli ticallv hampered In the mother country in ways that we would fain target. | "To have fashioned without any id those aids the fra mo work ol a mighty

nation for centuries to come is an nohietenient without parallel, lo have mi til red the robust boyhood ol the rich and varied history which beyond all question lies ahead, and is now in the making, that. (> my brothers who know the facts, that was and is a task of sui-li courage and resource that the pioneers ami the statesmen to whom it had been entrusted during the century that is past—Phillip and Mroy and Oipps and Broughton and Burkes and Beiit and many more—have won an endearing nhue among the national builders of the world. hut ter aide than I to appraise alik-'J the value and arduousness ol what these generations have seen, hut I think it i an he hardly doubtful that one oi the loiemost ol Australian ddlictilties Las been of necessity the prosaic character of the tasks attaching to those early years, and the almost , impossibility of finding on any great or obviou* scale the glamour and mystery and romance which have some- , times meant so much to a nation s , youth either i’l ancient days or in our j own. t "Vet Australia lias natural equip- j ments of unutterable value. Who v

that knows thorn has not felt the wonder, the inspiration of her limitless pastoral areas, omnipotent in the solemn influence of their very higgness ? Or who that has steamed into the Sydney Harbour ever afterwards forgets itr Or what of her wealth of climates and conditions, for the iiproariiig of active men, whose stalwart prowess in the field holds at this hour the admiring gaze of every land, and not least of our own V ‘‘And with quiet belief in the presence and power of Cod. and in linn reliance upon the force of preserving honesty of purpose, intellingeuee of outlook, and patient continuance in well doing, the foundation walls of the citadel have been well and truly laid, and the Australian peoples of centuries to come will rest their nationhood upon a basis of sound principles, personal fortitude, wide popular fellowship, and mutual goodwill, a ha-is whereon, if anywhere on earth, strong walls can in sure and certain hope l.e expectantly uprenred. II KI.PFCI.XK.'S. "The start has been well made. A manhood has emerge:! of t!: - - sort that counts. 11 ere are the words of our foremost student of modern democracies hard not. to lie alfecled by the youthful vigour and optimistic spirits of the people. NYe may well wish thal there Were more ol them, for they are an asset precious to the World, as well as to that Commonwealth of British nations whereof they form a part, a virile and high-spirited ran', energetic and resourceful, a race which ought lo increase ami spread out till it (ills the va-i ••naecs, -m far as habitable by man. n! the iiiiitinent that i- its hell tage. "In the word.- el another man of though! and vision, with many years' experience of Australian life: I can not -peak too -trimly of Australian helplnines.-. It i- their marked ihartieleri si ie. I have found it w lien I have needed advice, in many a liuuiK'ial crisis and in breakdown- mi Ihe road with her or motor ears. They see you thriiueh. I would rather have an Australian with in" in a tight place I haII anyone in the world. and Ins helpfulness is only equalled by hi- realIv splendid spin ism in his own troubles. But the Australian i- at hi- l;n-t in adversity. There is never a whimper. and often I have not known how had a drought lias been until 1 actually felt the sigh of relief go Up all nvei the coutrv when rain has 1 nine. I lelt. therefore, that the Australians are callable in n'unique .!• . re- ol maintaining, whatever i> m (...I and for ihe world’s good in the British t radii, 1011. The Australian charaeier 1- -ilium-d tip in the lines of Adam l.ind-av Cordon II he pimie. r Aiistralia 1: pne! >, w liieli. familiar a- they are. imieh the spnl SO exact ly that t hey are worth qinn ■ in ;: i l. 1- mostly froth am! hiihi.l ■. Two lil i 11si II 111 I like -l o n>, Kiniluess in another's 111 >u 1 1!<•. Coiirtige in your own. To tile stalwart rare thus ia-hi med. the iiiaidtood hanimereil into -hope and aiisw endile 1 ie■ . in young llirohliing , dies, or on ihe great range-, 01 pastoral plain a id hti-h. Cu re came tell year- ago the Mlpreiu" 1-eM ol the eal! to war on behalf ol' lenity to plight', d Will'll and Ihe upholdm" ol an Kmpire's Inn And. at one", aliame with In ;li 1" -live, they rallied HI and wind ill nil mere iigll I'e 111 speech N> e lull ill" mol her'laud, and gave ! hem-el vs inn ;r1!1 1 v i ind \ lor the hi di eln !iri D'l mil I" -- ly. 1 11 elessly. they aeiotnpli h ■'l il. 'I lam -a ml- el slalwai! men. who m the spring-till, ' 1 heir rinlinnl m. 111! had been .mr glory and mu hope for the cum: a ... el - m the vast lauds under tlm Ninthm 11 < rims, on lliuehiiigly laid down llieir lives that tlm wnrhl might he a bettered world and I■■ - t'e 11 r* *d a .01111-1 hi-li ha in!' d „|.",g Me I hank Cod and thank lln 111 Th" dominions cv n -"a ■ha re. gho ions siory 01 m.r pa>l '"Uturi.s. I I i . - o 1 - lii Sydm'N and M"l'"iurn no | - than mil -■ in l.midmi. Bui now Alls, rnlia and \"W Zealand have made tl:,,;r on: 1 history besides, and wlmli poli and \ ilia Bidg.e and Vpres it will l.e lor the indmni!able prowe-s and tlm sehless dV'vpli a oi -mis from ,O'er...'lls thal they will again and ye jI, j t,:ii,!, I e,-l I haveii'l .' wine. ,urn , aiii'iei' lit oh 'U'ver in Calh'.oh. • -""il the like of ih e wound.',l Nu-tra--11 a 1 > It: war he!..re. They were happy hn, all-- they knew they had been tried p,|. ill" iii - I lime and haul nm been I,mud want mg. No liner lent ol ami' has lieeu performed during ihe war.'