gcls_WFP_236

[Black and white photograph of a kangaroo with joey in pouch]
Photograph by William Reid

A TASMANIAN KANGAROO WITH YOUNG IN POUCH

The Tasmanian kangaroo is smaller than that found in Australia and is about the size of an ordinary sheep. Only one young one is produced at birth. The female carries it in a pouch until the offspring is able to run by the side of the parent, but retiring into the pouch in times of danger

WESTERN AUSTRALIA RESEMBLES WESTERN UNITED STATES IN PIONEER DAYS

Our visit to Western Australia reminded us of our own western United States in the early days. This is a new country, the active settlement dating back to the discovery of gold in 1885, but agriculture was not begun to any extent until 1903 and 1904.

The history of Australia thus resembles that of the United States. Settled first in the east, the west, reached only by water routes, was little known until the discovery of gold caused a rush of settlers and prompted the building of a transcontinental railroad.

We were impressed with the beauty and profusion of the wild flowers, all of which were unknown to us in the United States. These included the wattle, which blooms in many varieties ; the fragrant baronia, the red and green kangaroo paw, the many different kinds of orchids, the wax flower, and the everlastings, which mantle the country for miles at a stretch.

The interior of Australia contains no mountain ranges of any size, has no watershed, and until the water supply problem is solved, this part of the country will remain practically nonproductive. Thus, at the famous Kalgoorlie gold mines, two cities, with their thousands of people, are dependent for their water upon a supply pumped up from a reservoir near the coast, at Perth, through steel pipes, over a distance of about 350 miles.

We visited the magnetic observatory of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at Watheroo, in the midst of a sandy plain, where the emu, the kangaroo, and the wallaby roam at will.

Wandering over this sandy waste, in the midst of scrubby trees and bushes, trying to shoot the swiftly moving kangaroo, we would pause in wonder at the beautiful orchids smiling up from the sand at our feet.