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Table of Contents

POPULATION—RAILWAYS—TELEGRAPHS—MANUFACTORIES—MINERAL, PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS—SHIPPING—PUBLIC INDEBTEDNESS—REVENUE—PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WEALTH.

As already stated, the progress made by the colony in every direction since just before the institution of responsible government has been phenomenal, and although the writer has no intention of dealing with that portion of Australian history, he feels that the present chapters would be incomplete without some reference thereto. Hence the following statistical epitome, which will shew in some faint degree what leaps and bounds have been made since the people, whose foundation was laid in felonry first began to breathe the air of freedom.

When the census of the inhabitants of the colony was taken in 1836, it amounted to 77,096. In the following year the estimated population of the colony was 85,267. In 1846 it had increased to 187,413. In 1851 the population (not counting that of Victoria, which had just then become a separate and distinct colony, and which was estimated to contain about 100,000 souls) amounted to 187,243. At the end of 1854 the number had mounted up to 251,315. In 1859 the population numbered 336,572, Queensland at this time also having been severed from the colony. In 1871 a census of the whole of the Australasian colonies was taken, and Victoria stood at the head with 731,528; New South Wales came next with 503,981; New Zealand next with 256,393; South Australia next with 185,626; Queensland next with 120,104; Tasmania next with 101,785; and Western Australia last with 25,353:—the grand total of white population in the whole of Australasia being thus 1,924,770. Mr. Coghlan, the present Government Statistician of the colony, estimates the population of the Australasian colonies on the 31st December, 1887, to have been as follows:—New South Wales, 1,044,000 (approximately); Victoria, 1,035,943; New Zealand, 603,787 (exclusive of 41,828 Maories); Queensland, 359,059; South Australia, 315,000; Tasmania, 140,711; and Western Australia, 44,532,; making a grand total of 3,543,032 souls.

The density of the population of Australia, compared with its area, is computed at 1 person to every square mile. America has 6 persons to the square mile; Africa has 17; Asia has 46; and Europe 87. It has been computed by Mr. Hayter (the Victorian Statistician) that the area of increase of the population of Australia is 42 per cent. in every decade. At this rate the population in 1901 should equal 5,678,029; 50 years afterwards it should be 32,782,290; and in the year 2001 it should be no less than 189,269,663. Did ever country show greater growth, or give fairer promise for the future?

It is unfortunate that the full statistics are not available at the time this is being written, shewing the advancement made up to the end of 1887—the closing year of the Centenary; but a fair idea of the marvellous progress made by New South Wales, after the separation of Queensland, the youngest of the Australian offshoots, and which event took place in 1859, may be obtained from a comparison of the statistics for 1860 and those published for 1886—the last quarter of the century.

Births, deaths, and marriages in 1860 were severally 14,233, 6,562 and 2,945. In 1886 they were 36,284, 14,587 and 7,811.

In 1860 the arrivals by sea were 23,031, and in 1886 70,388, while the departures by sea were in the first year 6,847 and 41,896 in 1886.

There were 798 schools in 1861, with 34,767 pupils. In 1886 they had increased to 2,833, with 226,860 pupils.

In 1860 there were only 70 miles of railway open for traffic, the capital invested on the open lines being £1,422,672, and the net earnings £11,841. In 1886 there were 1,971 miles open for traffic, the expended capital thereon being £24,079,555, and the net earnings being £667,078.

There were 1616 miles of telegraph in 1861, and the number of messages sent during that year was 74,204. In 1886 there were 20,797 miles of wire, along which 2,661,126 messages were sent and received.

In 1860 there were 287 post offices in the colony, through which there passed 4,230,761 letters, 3,668,783 newspapers, and 83,736 packets. In 1886 there were 1157 offices and the letters, newspapers and packets to pass through them numbered respectively 42,849,500, 29,532,400 and 4,848,800.

The number of manufactories and works given for 1860 was 567, but no mention is made of the hands employed. In 1886 there were 3,694 manufactories and 45,783 hands employed therein.

The land under crop in 1860 was 260,798 acres; in 1886 there were 972,496 acres under cultivation.

The return of live stock in 1860 was:—Horses, 251,947; horned cattle, 2,408,586; sheep, 6,119,163; pigs, 180,662. In 1886 the figures were:—Horses, 361,663; cattle, 1,367,844; sheep, 39,169,304; pigs, 209,576.

368,862 tons of coal, of the value of £226,493 were raised in 1860. In 1886 the quantity raised was 2,830,175 tons, valued at £1,363,164.

In 1860 there were 12,809,362 lbs of wool exported, of the value of £1,123,699. The quantity exported in 1886 was 173,985,640 lbs. of the value of £7,028,596.

Land was sold to the extent of 34,000,000 acres between 1862 and 1886, conditionally or otherwise, and £38,000,000 came into the Treasury as the result, while at the end of 1886 £12,000,000 remained due on conditional purchases. In 1886 there were 142,927,360 acres under pastoral occupation, yielding as rent £304,344.

The results of the cultivation of the land, as ascertained up to March, 1887, were;—Wheat, 5,868,844 bushels, £953,688 value; maize, 3,825,146 bushels, £525,958 value; barley, 132,949 bushels, £18,836 value; oats, 600,892 bushels, £5,578 value; other grain, 22,907 bushels, £1,151 value; wheaten hay, 109,851 tons, £357,016 value; oaten hay, 182,921 tons, £777,414 value; barley hay, 4,388 tons, £14,261 value; lucerne and grass hay, 52,738 tons, £131,845 value; green food for cattle, £84,200 in value; potatoes, 45,803 tons, £103,057 value; sugar cane, 167,959 tons, £98,676 value; tobacco, 13,642 cwt., £51,157 value; grapes for wine, 602,660 gallons, £120,761 value; grapes for table use, 1,945 tons, £45,221 value; oranges, 6,376,868 dozens, £66,426 value; other fruits and garden produce, £372,100 in value; minor crops, £153,300 in value. The total value was £3,943,645.

In 1861 the number of vessels and their tonnage was—inwards 1,424 ships, 427,835 tons; outwards 1,438 ships, 431,484 tons. In 1886 the figures were—inwards 2,684 vessels, 2,114,618 tons; outwards, 2,755 vessels, 2,143,986 tons.

In 1860 the total value of imports and exports was £7,519,285 and £5,072,020. The figures for 1886 are as follow: Imports, £20,973,548; exports, £15,556,213.

The public debt in 1860 was £3,830,230. It had mounted to £41,034,249 in 1886.

The revenue in 1860 was £1,308,925, and the expenditure £1,321,724. In 1886 the revenue was £7,594,301, and the outlay £9,078,869.

Coin in circulation in 1860 amounted to £2,946,613, and the deposits in banks to £5,721,690. The figures for 1886 are £7,801,646, and £31,933,056 respectively.

At the close of 1886, the public and private wealth of the colony was estimated at £521,000,000; the public wealth, consisting of railways, public works, unsold Crown lands, municipal property and works, at £175,128,000; and the private wealth, embracing land, houses, permanent improvements, stock, personal property, machinery, coin, merchandise, shipping, etc., at £346,250,000.

Again the question comes—Did ever country show greater growth, or give fairer promise for the future? Looking out to that future from the dawn of the second century, what grander prospect could any one wish to gaze upon? A free people, under free laws upon productive land, with all the religious, social, commercial, and industrial advantages that any nation of far riper years could possibly desire, who can define the boundaries of the possibilities which lie before this 'Greater Britain' whose one hundredth birthday has just been celebrated? Was there not inspiration in the words uttered by Governor Phillip, when, on the 7th February, 1788, he made his memorable speech, and said "How grand is the prospect which lies before the youthful nation!" A century of years has elapsed since those words were uttered, and the nation is yet a youth, although the growth to its present stage has been so exceptionally strong and vigorous and rapid—a growth unparalleled in the history of the world. Its ripeness and fullness of vigour will have been attained when Federated Australia tells out its unity in name, and effort, and purpose, to the other and older, but not more important nations of the earth.