LAND OF MYSTERY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 968, 10 May 1930, Page 5

LAND OF MYSTERY

WONDERS OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA TALES OF A BUFFALO HUNTER Buffalo hunter, trepang and pearl fisher, spare-time journalist and, in his own words, "anything at all that happens along,” Mr. L. O’Shaughnessey is in Melbourne on a holiday from North Australia, where he has lived for many years. North Australia is still a land of mystery to many people. The stories Mr. O’Shaughnessey has to tell make it even more so. Out on the marshlands of Arnhem Land, he has followed the buffalo herds with expert shooters, men who can bring down a buffalo bull with a big bore bullet fired from the back of a galloping horse; he has fished for trepang along the northern coast; he has prospected in the ranges hundreds of miles from settlement, and he has been a stockman on huge stations. And after a little while down south he is going back to the land whose fascination has held him for so many years. This time, though, he is going shooting with a camera, and he promises that when he conies south again he will have a collection of photographs of the natural beauties of North Australia that will be the best advertisement it has ever had. Buffalo shooting in the north is not now so profitable as it has been according to Mr. O'Shaughnessey. Last year, he said, there were 15,000 bulls shot, and the shooters received an average of £ 1 a hide from the exporting agents at Darwin. This year the agents say there is a glut on the market. He estimates that in Arnhem Land there are at the very least 50,000 buffaloes. But unless some form of protection is placed upon them he considers that at the present rate of destruction they will be wiped out in a few years. Another profitable form of hunting in the north now is possuming. A great number of possums have been trapped recently. The skins are not as heavy as those in the south. Most of them are exported to Japan. Trepang fishing is still profitable, and £l2O to £ 700 a ton is received by the fishermen. Many people will be surprised to learn that the hilly parts of Arnhem Laud are over run with deer. It is said that the deer were first brought into the north bj r a detachment of the 38th foot regiment, which helped to establish a settlement at Port Essington in 1826. Since then the deer have grown into herds thousands strong. Brahma cattle and Timor ponies also run wild in great numbers throughout the north. The ponies are hardy, fleet-footed little animals. ‘Few Savage Blacks’ Mr. O’Shaughnessey discounts the stories of savage blacks in Arnhem Land. Except in the Caledon Point district, he says, the natives are to he trusted. Many of the civilised blacks still say that there is a white woman held captive by tbe Rocky natives in the Cape Wiiberforce district. This story first received publicity after the disappearance of the Douglas Mawson eight or nine years ago, but police have failed to confirm it. Gold, tin and other minerals and metals, Mr. O'Shaughnessey says, are to be found in great quantities throughout the north if the right men set. about the job. A tin. field known a 3 Colac is paying. Two batteries have been installed and the crushings have been good. Mr. O’Shaughnessey said the north was still being hampered by wrong administration methods. There were many men eager to take up the land, but finance was the main bar. Little was done by the officials to help them